Young Justice 10
by CrazyJanaCat
Summary: As the universe is at the verge of death, Ben is given a last chance to save it. However, this means the ultimate sacrifice for him. He leaves his entire live behind and starts over in a new universe. With the help of new friends and a whole team of young heroes, will Ben be able to rise once more and become the hero he once was? ON HOLD
1. Prologue

**I started reading Ben 10 and Justice League/Young Justice x-overs lately, and I really like them! There are some great ones out there, but not enough for my tastes, so i decided to make one myself!**

 **I hope mine is as good as the ones I read from other people, so please let me know.**

 **Also, I am not planning on following the series entirely, though there will definitally be chapters coming right out of Young Justice first season, with a little bit of Ben added of course. I do take requests, so if there is a certain episode you want to see in this, just ask and I'll do my best. If anyone knows a good pairing for Ben, please let me know because I haven't figured that part out yet, though I am planning on keeping the canon ones, like Miss Martian/Superboy and Artemis/Kid Flash (especially like that second one).**

 **Updates should usually happen every monday.**

 **Anyway, enjoy!**

* * *

"Ben!"

"Julie!"

The brunette teenage hero stopped running and turned to watch his girlfriend disappear into the black fog that was slowly but surely covering the entire planet. He wanted to run after her, grab her hand and pull her away from the nothingness closing in on him and his friends, but she's already gone and there is nothing he can do to save her anymore. Tears prick in his eyes as he runs after Gwen and Kevin. The only thing he can do for Julie now is stay alive himself and find a way to fix all this.

How this had happened, no one knew for sure. It had all started with Vilgax trying to attack Earth and force Ben to hand over the Ultimatrix. When Ben refused, Vilgax had activated a new black hole weapon. However, the weapon backfired. The powerful explosion took out Vilgax's entire fleet, and now it was slowly consuming the entire galaxy.

Ben, Gwen and Kevin finally reached the Rustbucket 3. Kevin sat down in the driver's seat and started the ship, lifting off with the highest starter speed the jet could handle. They hoped they would be able to outrun the black mist and find a way to undo the damage before it was too late. With how the black nothingness was still closing in on them while they took off from the planet, Ben would guess that wasn't going to happen anytime soon.

"We're not gonna make it!" Kevin yelled what Ben was already fearing.

The pet Galvanic Mechamorph jumped out of Gwen's arms. It barked its own name a few times before melting into the jet. The interior of the Rustbucket became Black with glowing green highlights and shot forward at twice the speed as before.

"We're getting away!" Gwen called out relieved as she looked through the window.

"Good job Ship," Ben praised the pet, looking outside as well.

He glanced out towards Earth, just in time to see the last piece of their planet swallowed by the black void. His stomach turned into knots as he thought of the 7 billion people lost. His parents, uncle Frank, aunt Natalie, grandpa Max, Julie… He hadn't been able to save them.

"Everything is gone," he mumbled sadly.

Gwen looked at Ben with tearful eyes and hugged her cousin tightly. The embrace was immediately reciprocated as Ben hugged back and buried his face in the redhead's shoulder. Sobs wracked the two cousins' bodies as they thought about all the people they had lost that day. Kevin too had to blink away tears as he tried to steer the jet to a safer part of the Universe.

"Gone, but not lost."

The three teens, the last survivors of the human race, looked up at the new voice with a British accent. Professor Paradox smiled at them while the old Galvan First Tinker sat on his shoulder, glaring at everything as was usual for him.

"Professor Paradox? Azmuth?" Ben asked.  
"What are you guys doing here?"

"Stopping this useless destruction from consuming all existence in the Universe, obviously," Azmuth replied annoyed.

"And how are we going to do that?" Gwen asked curiously.

"That, my dear, is why we are here," Paradox replied.

For the first time since the trio had met Paradox, he seemed to be really worried. Azmuth was frowning as well, but that was normal for the inventor of the Omnitrix.

"However, even I cannot say how things will work out from here," the Time Walker added.

Now, the others were worried too. Paradox always knew the possible outcomes of every action they undertook as he had seen them with his own eyes. Did he mean that even he was unable to travel further in the future? That was definitely a scary thought for the three teens.

"Do you know what we need to do to stop all this?" Ben asked hopefully.

"No, but I do know how to _reset_ all this," Professor Paradox replied.

"You mean make it as if this never happened in the first place?" Gwen asked.

"Not only that, but making it so that the threat would never even be a possibility in the first place."

"Great!" Ben exclaimed.  
"How do we do that?"

"Not we," Azmuth told the brunette sternly.  
"Just you."

The wielder of the Ultimatrix was slightly startled at that, but he still just nodded. He was sort of used to being the one to save everyone else, so he didn't really see the problem in doing it again. It was the least he could do after everything that had happened.

"Alright. Tell me what to do."

"It's not specifically something you must _do_ ," Paradox told Ben.  
"More so, it's an impossible decision only you can make."

Ben was taken aback by the statement and the seriousness it was spoken in. Gwen shuffled around nervously next to him, and he saw her cast a suspicious glare at the Time Traveler and the Galvan. At the same time, he noticed Kevin getting up from his seat and walking towards them with a frown of his own. Ben guessed he turned on the autopilot.

"What kind of decision?" he asked before his cousin or best friend had the time to make a comment.

"Are you willing to give up your own existence and that of the Ultimatrix for the universe?"

"What?!" Kevin and Gwen shouted in chorus.

"Of course," Ben replied determined.

To be honest, he had been expecting something like this. Vilgax had only ever targeted Earth for the Omnitrix, and later because of his hatred for Ben, it would be logical he wouldn't take an interest in attacking them without either of them ever even existing. At least Earth would be safe. It seemed Gwen didn't see it that way as she stared at Ben with eyes wide in shock.

"Do you know what you are saying?" she asked him softly.

"I do," Ben replied shrugging.  
"It makes sense to me. If I had never found the Omnitrix, Vilgax would have never attacked Earth. A lot of things wouldn't have happened."

"But that doesn't mean _you_ need to disappear," Kevin pointed out.  
"Only the Ultimatrix needs to be taken away and you can stay here."

"It's not that simple," Azmuth confessed sighing.  
"Because of the lower quality of the Ultimatrix, Ben's fate has been inevitably merged with it. I could give him a new Omnitrix that would not pollute Ben's DNA and mix with it and even severe the bonds already created by the Ultimatrix, but it would take too long. The entire Universe, with us still in it, would be forever lost."

"So, I have no choice?" Ben asked, far too calm for the current situation.

"There is always a choice," Paradox said.  
"In this case, you could choose to not reset the Universe and we would all be forced to relocate to another one and hope that other beings were able to do the same."

"That's not a choice!" Ben replied.  
"I can't just leave and let thousandths of species die! I can't just sit here and let Julie be dead…"

Gwen frowned sadly and put a hand on her cousin's shoulder in a comforting gesture. Ben looked at her for a moment, smiling gratefully as she smiled back at him. She nodded in understanding.

"What would it mean for us?" she asked.  
"If Ben is erased. We won't remember him, right?"

"I'm afraid not," was Paradox's soft reply.

Gwen nodded and squeezed Ben's shoulder. Ben could see that the thought alone was hurting her. He felt a pang as well, the idea of never being able to see his family ever again wasn't exactly a happy one. Still, if it could bring back the people he loved the most… He would never want to live knowing he could have saved them all but chose not to.

"That's decided then," he spoke up, smiling weakly.  
"I'll disappear and everyone can live a normal life. Sounds like a pretty good deal to me."

Gwen and Kevin were silent, but they looked like they wanted to disagree. Knowing that neither of them would be able to chance Ben's mind, Kevin gave a sad grin and held out a hand towards his best friend.

"I'd say that I'd never forget you," he started, chuckling.  
"But I guess that would be a lie."

Ben smiled hesitantly and grasped Kevin's hand. The taller teen suddenly pulled the brunette forward and hugged him tightly. Ben was a bit shocked at the sudden uncharacteristic affection he received from his friend. After a few seconds, his eyes softened and he hugged back.

"Thanks, Kev," he mumbled.

As they let go of each other, Ben was immediately enveloped in a new, even tighter hug by his cousin. Gwen buried her head in Ben's shoulder and cried softly. Again, Ben hugged back, trying hard to keep tears away from his own moistening green eyes.

"Ready, Ben?" Professor Paradox asked after a while.

The brunette nodded and let go of his cousin. He walked over to where the Time Traveler stood, but turned around to face his two best friends one last time.

"I know you won't remember, but promise me you'll find each other again," he started hesitantly.  
"Take care of each other… and Julie. Make sure she finds someone she can be happy with."

"We will," Gwen replied weakly.

A flash of bright blue light surrounded Ben, forcing him to close his eyes. When he opened them again, he was standing in a park on Earth, in the middle of the night with a bright sky illuminated by the moon and innumerable twinkling stars. His eyes widened at the sight and he in the rest of his surroundings, searching for any signs of the fog. He found Professor Paradox standing in front of him, Azmuth still sitting on his shoulder, and an Anodite floating next to the Time Walker.

"Grandma?" he asked.

"Hello Ben!" the energy being replied grinning.

"What are you doing here?" Ben asked confused.  
"What am I doing here? Wasn't I supposed to erased from existence?"

"Only from your own Universe," Paradox explained.  
"But we are no longer there."

"Then where are we?" the brunette asked confused.

"A parallel universe that will reach its own crisis. Soon, they will need you."

"Why? I thought I would be done with playing the hero."

"We understand that, sweetheart," Verdona told him softly.  
"I said the same thing when the Time Walker told me. You deserve a normal, happy life after all the sacrifices you made. Because of that, I have decided to stay with you."

"Really?"

Ben was honestly happy his grandmother wanted to stay by his side in this new world. He had always thought she loved Gwen more than him because she had the 'spark' and he didn't. That she was willing to leave their own universe behind to help him out, made his heart swell. That was, until another thought crossed his mind.

"But… if you never existed in our world, wouldn't Gwen…?" he asked wide eyed.

"Don't worry dear!" Verdona laughed.  
"Anodites can travel between universes. I never stopped existing there. I just moved away."

"And what about Azmuth? Shouldn't he forget about me too?" Ben asked.

"As if I'd ever willingly give up my greatest creation," the Galvan snorted.  
"No, Benjamin. I'm going to keep a close eye on you. Make sure you use it properly."

To say Ben was shocked at the revelations that both his grandmother and Azmuth would be coming with him would be an understatement. He had thought he was going to die, but now, here he was, given a second chance in life, a normal one even, if he wanted to. Better yet, he wouldn't be alone, like he had thought at first, but with people he cared about and he knew cared about him too, even if they tried to deny it.

"Ship!"

Ben jumped a bit and turned around, finding the pet Galvanic Metamorph crawling his way. Ben laughed happily at the sight of his and Julie's shared 'dog' and opened his arms, allowing the creature to jump in his arms. Still grinning widely, he turned around again to face the three others still standing there.

"Ship's coming too?" he asked hopeful.

"Of course," Paradox replied smiling.  
"Without you, Ship will never meet Julie, so he only has you left as well."

Ben's smile faltered a bit at the realization he was never going to see Julie again. The thought was more than a little painful to him. He had truly loved Julie. She was sweet, understanding, smart and a _really_ great tennis player. He had admired her so much. Even now, he often wondered how she could ever stand being with him, especially when he was so selfish.

"Ready for the de-aging process?" Professor Paradox suddenly asked.

"What?! Why should I be de-aged?"

"A younger you will make it easier to blend in," Verdona replied.  
"That way, you have more time to adjust to everything and prepare for what will come."

Frowning, Ben nodded. He guessed that made sense, but it didn't mean he was looking forward to it.

"Don't worry, Ben," Paradox said smiling.  
"You'll only be five years younger again. See it as a second childhood."

"Will I keep my memories?" Ben asked nervously.

"Of course."

"Alright."

Verdona put a comforting hand on his shoulder and smiled at him. Taking a deep breath, Ben faced Paradox. All nervousness had disappeared from his face, and his eyes had a determined glint in them.

"I'm ready," he spoke.

Professor Paradox opened his pocket watch and Ben was once again surrounded by the same bright blue light that had brought him to that place. He closed his eyes, knowing that when he opened them again, nothing would ever be the same.


	2. New Life

**Thank you for everyone who sent me such nice comments.**

 **First of, about the pairing for Ben, I haven't decided yet, so all suggestions are still more than welcome. Right now, I'm leaning towards either Batgirl or Zatanna. I'm going with the first season of Young Justice and Ben will be 15 years old. I just wanted a bit of a backstory for him on this Earth. This way, he already knows some of the heroes and the sidekicks and they know him too.**

* * *

 _Ben was running towards his house, eyes wide in panic. He needed to get to his parents as soon as possible. The black fog Vilgax had released over Earth was creeping up on him from the other side of the street and erasing everything it touched. That couldn't happen to his family. He wouldn't let that happen._

 _As he finally reached his home, he stopped dead in his tracks, eyes wide in horror. The house was gone, in its place was only the blackness of the void. The dark nothingness reached out to him, but Ben couldn't move. He was too late. His parents were still in there._

 _Tears threatened to spill from his incredibly wide green eyes as he stared. The black fog crept closer, and Ben stumbled back just in time as it reached towards his ankles. He lost his footing and fell backwards. Wincing at the pain as his backside made contact with the street, Ben started crawling backwards. Panic overtook him. Would he die now too?_

 _"_ _Ben!"_

 _He looked up at the voice, but didn't find anyone. It was strange. The voice was familiar, but he couldn't find where it came from. Deciding there were more pressing matters at hand than some mysterious voice, Ben got on his feet and started sprinting away from the fog. He had to find Julie, Gwen and Kevin. He couldn't lose them too._

 _"_ _Ben!"_

 _The strange feeling of being shaken startled him and the world around him started to dissolve slowly. That voice again. He was sure he knew it. Yes! He remembered now, it was…_

. . . . .

Coast City, May 6, 2006, 07:00 PDT

"… Five more minutes Grandma," he muttered.

The alien in human disguise sighed before grinning. Her blue eyes lit up pink right as the blankets flew from Ben's bed, followed by the boy. The brunette yelped as he was lifted in the air and unceremoniously dropped on the carpet. Pouting, he glared at his grandmother and stood up.

Verona smiled mischievously at her grandson. She was in her human form, meaning she had shoulder length grey hair, a slightly wrinkled face and blue eyes. Her thin, curved body was covered up with a purple skirt to the knees and a white blouse. All in all, Ben had to admit she looked good for a woman who was supposed to be in her late sixties. He was well aware that she was much older than that, but her new passport said she was 67. Azmuth was to thank for those, as he had given Ben a whole new identity also.

"Today is the first day of school, honey," Verdona reminded Ben.

The boy flinched. He remembered what school was like back when he was 11, and since he was 11 again, he could only imagine it would be like that again. Besides, he had only been on this new Earth for three days.

"What if I'm not ready yet?" he asked nervously.

"Oh hush," his grandmother scoffed.  
"You fought alien invasions, supervillains and the paparazzi. You can handle school."

"If you say so…"

"And if someone bullies you, I'll take care of them."

"NO! I'll do that myself, I swear!" Ben shouted worried.  
"I mean, last week I was 16. I'm sure I can handle it maturely."

"I know you can, but what's the fun in that?" Verdona asked chuckling.

In a flash of bright pink light, verdona disappeared. Ben rolled his eyes and stood up. Not at all interested to go to school, he dragged his feet towards the bathroom to get ready. In his own Universe, he only had to go to school for another two years. Now, he wasn't even in Middle School yet.

After about half an hour, he walked down the stairs of his new house and walked into the kitchen, giving a lazy wave in greeting at those who were already present and petting a happily barking (shipping) Ship on the head. Paradox raised a brow and looked at his watch.

"Curious," he said.  
"I was expecting you here three seconds ago."

"Seconds?" Azmuth scoffed.  
"He should have been down thirty minutes ago! The brat is going to be late for school."

"I don't see the problem," Ben shrugged.  
"If I'm late, I'll just use XLR8. No biggy."

"No big- YOU ARE NOT GOING TO USE MY OMNIMATRIX FOR SOMETHING LIKE THAT!"

Ben was honestly shocked at the outburst of the small alien. He knew he should have seen it coming though. Azmuth was rarely ever in a good mood.

"I switched that faulty 'Ultimatrix' my ex-assistant made for a proper, _better_ Omnitrix," Azmuth said.  
"And you are not going to use it for racing to school and back, understand?"

It was true, Azmuth had given Ben a new Omnitrix only two days back to replace the Ultimatrix. This one actually was a proper watch where Ben could read of the time and it wasn't as bulky as the Ultimatrix had been. Ben had been a bit apprehensive about the switch. This one didn't have the evolution function, so he wasn't sure if it was an improvement or a setback. Then again, the Ultimatrix was badly made and threatened to poison Ben in the long run.

Frowning, Ben sat down at the kitchen table and started eating his breakfast. Grandma Verdona had turned out to be an amazing cook, which really surprised Ben since he was used to Grandpa Max's food. He wondered how it was possible that an alien was better at making human food than the human. Maybe Verdona used to cook for his dad and uncle Frank.

The honking of the school bus arriving had Ben jump off his seat. He shoveled the last bites of pancakes in his mouth before grabbing his schoolbag and rushing to the door. As he opened it, he waved at the people still in the kitchen with a wide grin on his face.

"See you guys later!" he called before he slammed the front door closed behind him.

Verdona chuckled amused at her grandson's antics and looked over at the other two still in the room.

"They grow up so fast," she joked.

.

School was pretty boring, especially since Ben had already done the exact same course five years ago. The bonus of that of course, was that he already knew the stuff. Even if he had forgotten most things, he could still easily understand everything, so he didn't need to worry too much about his grades for the next few years. Besides, living with a centuries old alien, a million years old Time Traveler, and the most intelligent alien in three Galaxies (arguably five), he dared to guess that grades would never be a problem again.

He decided to walk home instead of taking the bus, seeing as he didn't live that far away and it would be interesting to get to know the city a bit better. He had only seen his neighborhood until now, and he definitely needed to find out if there was and arcade or a smoothie bar nearby. Those two were extremely important if he were to live in this city. A bonus would be finding a place with good chili fries too, but he could live with his grandma's cooking if necessary.

He was only half way home when he heard screaming. Several people came running past him as they tried to get away from whatever fight was going on. Curious, Ben ran the opposite way of everyone else and towards the battle sounds.

When he reached the fight, his eyes widened. Though he had heard of the superheroes on this version of Earth, he hadn't seen one until now. In the air above the man with a metal helmet over the top half of his face, was an brown haired man in a green and black costume. Ben had heard about the Green Lantern from the news and he had personally looked up as much as he could about the Justice League. Still, seeing one of them in person was something entirely different.

The red dot on the villain's helmet lit up, and a laser beam shot out at Green Lantern. The hero was only just in time at creating a shield with his power ring, but the force still pushed him back some. Seeing that Green Lantern was having some trouble, Ben grinned and activated his Omnitrix. After making sure no one was around to see him transform, he slapped down on it.

"Diamondhead!" the Petrosapien yelled.

He aimed his hand at the villain's back and shot a few rounds of pale green crystals at him. The man, he was pretty sure it was some guy named Professor Ojo but he couldn't be sure, staggered and turned around. The villain's mouth fell open as he saw the stony creature.

"Why don't you try and take me on, asshole!" Diamondhead spoke with great confidence.

If the bad guy had eyes, Ben was sure he would've glared at him, but as things were now he only grimaced. A beam of his laser came Ben's way, but he easily deflected it with his arms and sent it back. Ojo ducked to the side to prevent himself from being hit by his own weapon. At the same time, Green Lantern charged, but Professor Ojo was on his feet fast enough to shoot at the hero. This time, Green Lantern was hit before he could protect himself, and he flew backwards against a tree.

By the time Ojo turned back to Ben, he was met with a crystal fist to his face. The villain flew several feet in the air and landed closely to where Green Lantern was still recovering. Ben grinned and approached, grabbing the bad guy by the collar of his suit and lifting him off the ground.

"People should really learn that being bad isn't gonna pay off," the Petrosapien chuckled.

He lifted his free hand and pulled it back, ready to hit the villain in the face again to knock him out, but he paused as he heard a terrifying sound: the Omnitrix timing out. He dropped Ojo and took a step back, eyes wide as he went from Diamondhead back to being Ben.

"A kid?!" Professor Ojo shouted shocked.  
"I just got beaten by a little kid?!"

"Look, I'm sure we can talk this out," Ben muttered nervously.

Ojo grinned and charged up his laser again. Ben gulped, staring at the villain fearfully as he took a few steps back and tripped. He heard the man in front of him laugh in victory and he closed his eyes, holding his hands out in front of him as if trying to block the attack. He heard the laser beam go off, but nothing hit him. A shout of pain followed shortly and Ben opened his eyes to see what was happening. Ben blinked at the green shield spreading out in front of him as it slowly disappeared again. He saw Professor Ojo lying unconscious next to a frowning Green Lantern. The hero walked up to Ben and held out a hand to help him up.

"Thanks for the help, Kid. You alright?"

"Y-yeah," Ben replied shakily.  
"Thanks for the save though. Stupid watch is trying to kill me."

Green Lantern raised a brow and crossed his arms, staring questioningly at the boy.

"That shield wasn't me," the hero confessed.

"Then who-…"

Realization dawned on Ben, making his eyes widen at first before grinning deviously.

"Oh! I gotta tell Grandma!"

Ben scrambled to his feet and started running away, an eager grin splitting his youthful face. Green Lantern quickly went after the boy and stopped him by putting a hand on his shoulder. Ben turned around and raised an eyebrow questioningly.

"Need a lift kid?" the hero asked.

Ben looked at his watch, which was still flashing red and shrugged.

"Stupid thing's still out, so why not?" he replied grinning.

Green Lantern lifted the boy into the air using his power ring and flew towards the house with Ben's directions. as they arrived, Ben lead him towards the front door and slammed it open, a large, eager grin still lighting up his entire expression.

"I'm home!" he called.

"Tell your friend to take off his superhero boots and come to the kitchen!" the voice of Verdona called back.

Green Lantern was pretty shocked, but Ben didn't give him any opportunity to question anything, as he grabbed the hero's sleeve and led him to the kitchen where Verdona was setting down five plates at the table. As Ben and Green Lantern entered, she looked up and smiled.

"You'll stay for dinner, won't you dear?" she asked.

"I wasn't planning-" Green Lantern muttered, taken aback.

"Oh nonsense!" Verdona quickly shut him up.  
"I have been expecting this day for quite some time now. Just sit down and we can talk. The other two should be here shortly, but you know how Azmuth is, right Benny? Never leaving that basement…"

"Yeah… I should ask him to upgrade this thing though," Ben muttered, glancing down at his watch.

"So!" Verdona clapped her hands, grinning towards Green Lantern.  
"What brings you here today?"

"Your grandson," the hero replied slowly.  
"He has… some unique abilities."

"It's called the Omnitrix."

Green Lantern and Ben both turned around to see Professor Paradox walk into the room with the small, grey skinned alien sitting on his shoulder. The hero was really shocked right now, his mouth wide open and eyes wide behind the dark green domino mask.

"I created it so peace may befall on the Universe," the Galvan continued.  
"That… didn't work out as well as I had hoped."

"I'm sorry to hear," the hero spoke, voice unwavering but hesitant.  
"I am Green Lantern, a member of the Justice League and the Green Lantern Corps. This… Omnitrix and Ben could be of great use in our goal to protect Earth."

"Does that mean I can go in space and do hero stuff? Because I've got my own spaceship, but they don't let me fly it yet," Ben jumped in eagerly.  
"Also: check this out Grandma!"

All attention was brought towards the young boy as he lifted his right hand. A look of pure concentration shone in his eyes as he stared at his palm until a small, softly glowing green orb appeared there. Verdona's eyes widened and she clapped her hands in excitement.

"You have the spark!" she announced.  
"A small one… but a spark none the less!"

"As I was saying, I think it would be interesting for Ben to be trained to become a hero someday," Green Lantern continued.

"I don't need training!" Ben replied cockily, smirking up at the adults.  
"I've got six years of experience already, which I bet is more than most heroes can say."

"Six? You mean you were five when you started using that thing?" Green lantern asked shocked.

"Not quite," Professor Paradox replied.  
"How about we sit down and discuss this over dinner?"

"Sounds good to me," the hero agreed.

With a flash of green light, Green Lantern's uniform turned into regular clothes and his mast disappeared as well, for the first time showing his blue eyes. Ben stared in awe, before he started grinning like a maniac.

"Cool!"

The hero chuckled and ruffled the boy's hair as they both sat down at the table. Azmuth huffed annoyed, but didn't speak as he jumped off Paradox's shoulder and landed on the table, sitting on the for him readied highchair.

"Ship!"

The Galvanic Mechamorph jumped on Ben's lap and started pawing at the boy's arm, who laughed happily and patted the creature's head. At this point, Green Lantern decided that it would be useless to keep being surprised at the things he saw in this house and simply raised a brow.

"Nice pet," he commented.

"You should see what he could do," Ben replied grinning.

"My guess, change in a Spaceship?" the hero shot back with a smirk of his own.

"Among other things, yeah," the young boy nodded.  
"He likes the toaster best, but he still burns the bread."

"Well then!" Verdona smiled.  
"I guess we all have a lot of explaining to do, right Mr.?"

"Jordan, ma'am. Hal Jordan."


	3. Independance Day

Coast City, July 4, 2010, 13:00 PDT

Ben sunk a bit through his knees and focused on his opponent rushing towards him. His concentration was flawless, as was his position. Nothing would get past him, he was absolutely sure of that. He smirked as the other got ready to attack, pulling his foot back and kicking the ball as hard as he could. The white and black orb flow towards Ben and the goal, but Ben jumped in time and caught it. The other team cursed, while Ben's team cheered loudly. They won 3 – 0 and would be going to the finals.

Ben grinned, holding up the ball for the whole audience to see, reveling in the cheers he got. Ben was pretty proud of his talents as a keeper. Hell, he was pretty much the best High School keeper in the city, maybe even beyond its borders. His teammates clapped him on the back, congratulating him while some of the girls called out his name.

Ben's attention was taken away from the celebrating teens when he noticed a certain man on the bleachers. Hal Jordan, AKA Green Lantern, Ben's part time mentor since the past four years, grinned proudly and gave the brunette a thumbs up. Ben grinned and waved. Saying goodbye to his friends, he walked over to the man.

"Good job, Ben," Hal said as he reached him.

"It's not like I saved the world from an apocalypse," the 15 year-old replied, rolling his eyes.

There was a ' _Not this time at least,'_ they both knew silently followed that comment and Hall chuckled.

"With how your teammates looked, you might as well have."

Ben laughed and stuck his hands in his pockets, grinning up at the hero in civilian clothing. The two talked for a bit longer, mostly about Ben's studies, both schoolwork and his training.

Azmuth had encouraged Ben to use his perfect memory for school instead of letting the talent go to waste like he had done before coming here, as well as demanding the brunette to spent at least two hours a week in the Galvan's lab in the basement to study science with him. Ben sometimes felt as if he had been promoted to the small alien's assistant, and he had gained a new sense of respect for both Albedo and Myaxx for putting up with him.

The rest of his free time he spent either with Verdona, training his, be it limited, Anodite abilities, or with Green Lantern on patrols or for combat training. He still tried to make time for Ship as well of course, teaching him new tricks or taking him for a flight around Earth. Added to all this, he still was the ace of his school's soccer team. All in all, Ben had a pretty busy life.

"You ready?" Hal asked after a while.

Ben grinned and activated the Omnitrix's newest setting. His entire body was being covered in a white and green armor that somewhat resembled Green Lantern's, with the black in light green, the green in white and black tight fitting pants. His head and hands were the only parts where his skin was still visible. In the middle of his chest stood the Omnitrix symbol, large and proud while the real Omnitrix was still attached to his left wrist. From behind the black domino mask, green eyes were sparkling in excitement. It had taken some convincing on Ben's side to get Azmuth to add this, but after his school report of near perfect grades last month, the grumpy alien had finally agreed.

"Of course!" he replied.  
"Today is the day!"

. . . . .

Hall of Justice, 14:00 EDT

Green Lantern and Jetray landed in front of the Hall of Justice about the same time as Green Arrow and his sidekick Speedy arrived. Aquaman, Batman and their own sidekicks, Aqualad and Robin were already waiting. As Jetray landed, he transformed back to human, still wearing his new hero uniform.

"Cool," Speedy muttered smirking.  
"You're Ben 10, right? Heard about you."

"Yeah," Ben replied grinning.  
"Nice to finally meet you guys."

"Same here!" Robin said, holding out his hand.

Ben's grin widened as he shook the Boy Wonder's outstretched hand before turning towards the two Atlanteans. Aqualad smiled as well, holding out his own hand in greeting. Ben reached for his, but the Omnitrix suddenly lit up, scanning the tan skinned teen.

" _New DNA sample acquired_ ," the metallic voice of the Omnitrix said.

The young heroes, as well as their mentors stared at Ben in surprise and slight suspicion. The brunette rubbed the back of his neck and chuckled nervously.

"It does that sometimes," he explained weakly.

"Aww man!"

The group turned around, just in time to see Flash and a very unhappy looking Kid Flash arrive. The redheaded speedster crossed his arms, glaring in front of him as he addressed his mentor.

"I knew we'd be the last ones here."

The other teens all chuckled in amusement, until Batman motioned for them to follow. Ben grinned in excitement and glanced over to Green Lantern, who gave him a proud grin and a nod before he joined the other three youngsters and Hal walked over to Flash. From all the other heroes, Ben had only met Flash a couple of times, along with Kid Flash, the other human Green Lanterns and Batman, though that last one was more of an interrogation. The Dark Knight seemed to have some difficulty trusting Ben and had ordered a detailed rapport on all the aliens he possessed. It had taken the brunette several hours to explain that it would be impossible to make that many.

"I still want that rematch," Kid Flash muttered softly as he walked up to Ben.

"Name the time and place," Ben whispered back.

Speedy raised a brow at the two of them, but didn't say anything. After that, their attention was driven towards the many onlookers cheering them on as they walked up to the large building that held the so called Head Quarters of the Justice League.

"There's Flash and Flash Junior!" one woman called out in awe, making Ben smirk at Kid.

"His name is Speedy. Duh," someone else replied.

"No. Speedy is Green Arrow's sidekick!" another person said.

"Well that makes no sense."

"And there are Green Lantern and that Alien Kid!"

"Yeah! 10 something right? Alien Ten?"

This time, it was Kid's turn to smirk at Ben, who frowned and looked at his Omnitrix.

"I've got an Alien X, does that count?" he whispered at the redhead.

"Can he beat me?" the young speedster shot back.

"Nah, he's pretty useless."

"Then it doesn't count."

"Ready to see the inner sanctum?" Green Arrow asked his prodigy.

"Born that way!" Speedy replied grinning.

"I'm glad we're all here," Aqualad said smiling.

"Yeah! Have all the five sidekicks been ever in the same place at the same time?" Kid asked grinning.

"DON'T call us sidekicks. Not after today," Speedy spoke up sternly.

"Sorry," Kid Flash muttered, still grinning in excitement.  
"First time at the Hall. I'm a little overwhelmed."

"You're _over_ whelmed, Freeze was _under_ whelmed. Why isn't anyone ever just _whelmed_?" Robin wondered out loud.

Just then, they entered the Hall, looking straight up at the large statues of the seven founders of the Justice League. Ben stared in awe, just like the other four did.

"Maybe that's why?" he said to Robin, who nodded silently in agreement.

The Martian Manhunter and Red Tornado walked up to them, the green man smiling in greeting at the five teens. As they saw the two heroes approach, the five of them stood at attention, their faces serious, even if they were buzzing in excitement on the inside.

"Robin, Speedy, Aqualad, Kid Flash, Ben 10. Welcome," he spoke calmly.

Robin and Kid Flash fist bumped as the Martian led them inside, giving them a small tour of the Hall. Ben walked behind them, next to Speedy as he looked around the place. It was pretty amazing, he had to admit, but what he was really looking forward to was seeing the Watchtower. He'd seen it several times from the outside on his flying trips with Ship, or when Hal or John Steward let him join them on an off planet mission for the Green Lantern Corps. He remembered scaring some heroes by turning into Jetray and pressing his face against the window.

As they reached the library, Flash told them to make themselves at home before joining the other adult heroes. Robin, Kid Flash and Aqualad dropped down onto the seats, while Ben and Speedy kept standing. The young archer was slightly frowning, and if Ben had to guess, he would say the other was disappointed.

"Quick debrief on the coincidence of four ice villains attacking on the same day. We shouldn't be long," Batman said before turning towards what Ben knew to be the transporters.

As all heroes were scanned and the door opened, Speedy walked forward, and angry scowl on his face.

"That's it?!" he asked.  
"You promised us a real look inside, not a glorified backstage pass!"

"It's a first step," Aquaman told him.  
"You've been granted access few others get."

"Really?" Ben asked sarcastically, pointing at the large glass with several civilians looking in, taking pictures of them.  
"What does it matter on which side of the glass we're standing?"

"Ben, please…" Green Lantern sighed.

"Hey, it's fine for me dude," the brunette shrugged.  
"I've seen the real thing before. I just hoped next time I wouldn't have to sneak in."

The glares he received from some of the heroes made him realize he shouldn't have said that and he took a step back.

"Oops," he muttered.

"See?! Even the alien kid has seen more than us! And he isn't even officially _with_ any of you guys!"

"Roy," Green Arrow addressed his partner.  
"You just need to be patient."

"What I _need_ is respect!" the archer prodigy growled before turning towards the other teens.  
"They're treating us like kids! Worse: like _sidekicks_! We deserve better than this."

Ben looked over at the three seated teens, who were all looking at each other as well. They didn't seem to understand what the problem was. Ben did, of course, but then again, he was used to being treated as a real hero, not as a kid in training. He used to be the savior of the Universe, multiple times, while he was barely even an exception around here.

"You're kidding, right?" Speedy asked at the blank looks he received.  
"You're playing their game? Why?! Today was supposed to be _the_ day! Step one in becoming fully fledged members of the League!"

"Well, sure," Kid Flash shrugged.  
"But I thought step one was a tour of the HQ."

"This isn't the HQ," Ben muttered.

Three pairs of eyes stared at him in question while Speedy glared at them.

"I bet they never told you. It's just a false front for tourists and a pit stop for catching Zeta-Beams Teleporter Tubes to the real thing! An orbiting satellite called the Watchtower," the archer prodigy told the others.

"It almost wasn't," Ben cut in as he saw Batman and Flash glare at Green Arrow.  
"I nearly crash-landed on it about two years ago. Few days later, Batman broke into my house to find out if I was a threat or not. Grandma Verdona was pretty pissed off."

The memory made him smile. It had taken Ben half an hour to calm everyone down. Verdona still got angry every time Batman was even mentioned. Speedy didn't even seem to hear Ben as he glared at Green Arrow.

"I thought I was your partner," he accused his mentor.  
"But not anymore."

Ben, Robin, Kid Flash and Aqualad stared in shock as Speedy took off his hat and threw it to the floor before turning his back on the adult heroes.

"I guess they're right about you guys," he said, glaring at the other teens.  
"You're not ready!"

Ben rolled his eyes at the drama and watched as Speedy walked out. Glancing over at the senior heroes, he saw Green Lantern look at him apologetically. He smirked and shrugged. _That just means I have to sneak around for a while longer._ The space hero glared in warning and shook his head slightly, but Ben had already looked away again. An alarm went off and Superman's face appeared on a big screen.

 _"_ _Superman to Justice League. There's been an explosion at Project Cadmus. It's on fire."_

"I've had my suspicions about Cadmus," Batman muttered.  
"This may present the perfect opportunity to-"

 _"_ _Zatara to Justice League. The Sorcerer Wotan is using the Amulet of Aten to blot out the sun. requesting full League response!"_

 _"_ _It's a small fire,"_ Superman told the League as he too had heard Zatara's request.  
 _"Local authorities have it under control."_

"Then project Cadmus can wait," Batman concluded.

The heroes all walked over to the transporter, followed by the teens. Batman stopped in front of them, a stern expression on his partially covered face.

"Stay put," he said.

"What?! Why?" Robin demanded to know.

"This is a League mission," Aquaman told them.

"You're not trained," Flash added.

"Since when?" Kid Flash asked his mentor.

"I meant you're not trained for this team."

"Speak for yourself," Ben said frowning, crossing his arms as he glared at the older heroes.  
"I've got more power than the whole League combined!"

"You are too immature," Green Lantern scolded.

"Oh come on! I make one little mistake! Besides, it's not like Oa actually blew up, right?

"There will be other missions, when you're ready," Aquaman told the teens.

"But for now, stay put," Batman ordered sternly.

The League members all walked away, using the Zeta-Beam Teleporter Tubes to get to Zatara's location. The four teens glared at their backs, angry to be left behind like that.

"Glad you didn't bring you-know-who?" Green Arrow asked Martian Manhunter.

"Indeed."

"When we're ready?" Kid Flash raged when the senior heroes were all gone.  
"How are ever supposed to be ready if they treat us like sidekicks?!"

"My King, my mentor. I thought he trusted me," Aqualad muttered sadly.

"Trust? They don't even trust us with the basics?" Kid continued.  
"They have a secret HQ _in space_!"

"What else aren't they telling us?" Aqualad wondered.

All of them looked at Ben when he asked that, and the brunette took a step back, shaking his head.

"Don't look at me," he told them.  
"They trust me less than you guys! I only knew because I found it accidentally, and even then, Batman still wanted to have Martian Manhunter to erase my memories of it. It took both League Green Lanterns to change his mind."

"He never told me any of that," Robin muttered.

The three sidekicks all frowned and looked at the floor. They were really disappointed to be treated like that, Ben noted. He guessed it was normal. These guys had trained and work beside those heroes for years, built up relationships with them and worked hard to gain their trust and respect. He had just been fooling around whenever he was out with Hal or John. It wasn't like he needed to learn things from the other heroes anyway. He always pulled through in the end because nothing he had met was as powerful as the Omnitrix.

"Does anyone even know what that 'Project Cadmus' was they were talking about?" Ben asked after a while.

"Don't know," Robin replied before grinning.  
"But I can find out!"

Ben and the others followed the youngest member towards the computers, where Boy Wonder immediately set to work.

 _"_ _Access Denied."_

"Heh, wanna bet?"

A large wall of codes appeared and Robin started typing away, awing Ben and Kid in the process.

"Wow. How are you doing that?" Kid Flash asked.

"Same system as the Bat Cave," came the smug reply.

 _"_ _Access Granted."_

"Project Cadmus, Genetics lab here in D.C," Ben read out loud.  
"That all there is? You'd think the League would have more information, right?"

"And if Batman's suspicious, maybe we should investigate?" Robin proposed grinning.

"Solve their case before they do. It would be poetic justice," Aqualad commented.

"Hey. They're all about Justice," Robin replied.

"Otherwise, they've picked a really stupid name," Ben chuckled.

"But they told us to stay put," the Atlantean reminded the others.

"For the blotting out the sun mission, not this!" Ben told him as Robin nodded in agreement.

"Wait. Are you guys going to Cadmus?" Kid asked, throwing and arm over both Ben and Robin's shoulders.  
"Because if you're going, I'm going."

All three of them grinned at Aqualad, hoping that he too would agree.

"Just like that, we're a team on a mission?" the Atlantean asked.

"We didn't come for a play date."

. . . . .

Cadmus

The firemen were in the middle of putting out the fire when the four teens arrived. Two scientist were stuck on the second floor, until an explosion pushed them outside the window. Using their super speed, Kid Flash and ran up the wall of the building and grabbed one of the two men, throwing him on the roof. At the same time, Big Chill had grabbed the second man and gently lowered him to the ground before transforming into Water Hazard and helping the firemen.

Robin used his grapple hook to enter through the window the two scientists had fallen from, taking Kid Flash with him. Aqualad arrived last, using his control over water, the Atlantean created a water tornado to get the man still on the roof down and himself to the window. Ben used the same trick to follow. When he too entered the building, he slapped the Omnitrix symbol on his chest and turned back into a human.

"Thanks for the help," Ben muttered to the two already sniffing around.

"You handled it!" Robin told him.  
"Besides, we're here to investigate. Poetic justice, remember?"

Aqualad had already walked ahead and noticed a horned creature stepping into a still working elevator. Shocked, he watched as the doors closed and the creature disappeared.

"There was something in the-" he started before Kid Flash appeared behind him.

"Elevators should be locked down," the speedster said.

Ben and Robin looked at each other before rushing after the others. The four of them approached the elevator to investigate.

"This is wrong," Robin said as he looked at the holographic computer on his wrist.  
"This is a high speed express elevator. This doesn't belong in a two story building."

"Neither does what I saw," Aqualad commented.

The Atlantean walked up to the elevator doors and forced them open, the rest of the team walking up behind him. When they looked down, their eyes widened in shock at how deep the shaft went. There had to be at least fifty more levels underground.

"At least that explains the express elevator," Ben muttered as he activated his watch and transformed into Big Chill.

As he started floating down, Robin attached a rope to the top of the shaft and jumped, Aqualad and Kid Flash following after him. Big Chill was already three stories lower when he heard Robin call him back up.

"I'm at the end of my rope here, Ben!"

"Alright, that means this is going to be our stop," the Necrofriggian spoke in his chilling voice as he flew back up.

He stayed suspended in midair while Aqualad and Kid Flash jumped on the ledge next to the closed elevator doors, where Robin was already standing and pulling up his holographic computer.

"I'll go check it out," Big Chill told the others before floating through the doors.

The hallway seemed pretty high tech, and Ben had to admit reluctantly he had no idea what most of the thing he saw did. However, nothing of it seemed like it would attack him or his friends. Seeing nothing that could be of any immediate danger, he flew back and told the others to follow. Just like before, Aqualad forced the doors open and walked out first, followed by Robin and Kid Flash.

"Welcome to Project Cadmus," Robin muttered.

Kid Flash immediately took off at high speed, leaving the rest behind.

"Kid! Wait!" Aqualad called out after him, but the ginger speedster ignored him.

In a flash of green, Ben turned into XLR8.

"I'll go after him!" he said before taking off as well.

He arrived only seconds after Kid, was now lying on the floor and about to be stepped on by a giant monstrous creature. XLR8 rushed forward, grabbing Kid and getting back to the other two, who were now staring in shock at the large rows of beasts walking past. As he and Kid Flash were back on safe grounds, Ben transformed back to himself.

"No, nothing odd going on here," Aqualad muttered.

"I've seen weirder," Ben told them.  
"Not by much, but still weirder."

When the monsters were gone, the four young heroes continued on their way. Robin hacked every door on their path, until they found themselves in a room filled with strange creatures in tubes.

"Okay, I'm officially whelmed," Robin said.

"This is how they hide this massive facility from the world," Kid Flash muttered.  
"The real Cadmus isn't on the grid! They generate their own power with these… things. Must be what they're bred for."

"Man! What's is with bad guys and using living creatures as energy source?" Ben whined.

"You've seen something like this before?" Aqualad asked curiously.

"It's how my grandparents met."

"Dude, one day you gotta tell us those stories!" Kid Flash grinned.

"One day," Ben replied shrugging.

In the meantime, Robin had walked over to the computer and hacked into it to find out what was going on.

"They call these things Genomorphs," Boy Wonder told the others.  
"Wow! Look at the stats on these things! Super strength, telepathy, razor claws. These things are living weapons!"

"They're engineering an army," Kid Flash muttered.

"But for who?" Ben asked.

"Wait, there's something else," Robin interrupted.  
"Project Kr… Ah! The file is triple encrypted. I can't-"

"Don't move!"

The four teens turned around only to see a man in dark armor and a golden helmet running towards them, followed by several Genomorphs. He had a small one on his shoulder as well. Ben raised his hand towards the Omnitrix, but Aqualad stopped him.

"Let's try talking first," he said.

"Only if those things are ok with that," Ben replied.

"Wait," the man with the helmet said.  
"Robin, Aqualad, Kid Flash, Ben 10?"

"At least he got your names right," Robin chuckled from where he was still decrypting information.

"I know you," Aqualad said to the man.  
"Guardian. A hero."

"I do my best."

"Then what are you doing here?" Kid asked.

"I'm chief of security," Guardian replied.  
"You're trespassing. But we can call the Justice League, figure this out."

"You think the League is gonna approve of you breeding weapons?" Ben accused.

"Weapons? What are you-"

The small horns on the Genomorph on Guardian's shoulder lit up red and the hero groaned in pain. After only a few seconds, he stood up straight again, glaring at the teens.

"Take them down hard! No mercy!" he told the Genomorphs, who jumped forward to attack.

Robin used a smoke bomb and disappeared, leaving the other three to fend for themselves. With a flash of bright green light, Ben transformed into Wildmutt and jumped on top of one of the Genomorphs. He and Kid Flash took care of the nasty creatures, while Aqualad took on Guardian. The Atlantean managed to take the hero down, but when more creatures appeared, the three teens had to run. They found Robin already in the hallway, hacking the elevator. Kid approached him as Aqualad and Wildmutt took a fighting stance to hold off the oncoming Genomorphs.

"Way to be a team player, Rob!" Kid yelled angrily as he stopped next to the Boy Wonder.

"Weren't you right behind me?" the younger one asked.

Just then, the elevator doors opened up. Kid Flash and Robin quickly entered the elevator as Ben and Aqualad rushed over. Once they were all safely inside, the doors closed again, locking the attacking Genomorphs outside. Ben transformed back to himself, the small space of the elevator forcing the other three to close their eyes and turn away as he did.

"Why are we going down?" Ben asked curiously.

"Dude! Out is up," Kid told Robin.

"Excuse me? Project Kr is down, on sublevel 52," the raven replied.

"This is getting out of control," Aqualad sighed.  
"Perhaps we should contact the League."

"We can handle it," Ben shrugged, smirking confidently.

A soft ping warned the four young heroes that they had reached their destination and the doors opened. When they saw where they had arrived, Ben couldn't help but feel weirded out. The whole place seemed organic, as if they were inside a living creature.

"Still seen something weirder?" Kid asked Ben softly.

"Doesn't even rank in the top five."

They ran through the hallway until they reached a cross point. With a sigh, Aqualad crouched down next to Robin while Ben hid close to Kid Flash.

"Which way?" Aqualad asked.

"Yeah, bizarre looking hallway One or bizarre looking hallway Two?" Robin replied.

"Halt!"

A humanoid Genomorph walked out of one of the hallways and levitated two barrels, throwing them towards the four young heroes. They jumped aside in time, as the barrels smashed against the wall and exploded.

"I vote for bizarre looking hallway Two!" Ben told the others as he started running while activating his watch at the same time.

"Right behind you!" Kid called, zooming after the brunette as both Robin and Aqualad did the same.

Kid Flash and XLR8 reached the closing doors first, and Ben quickly slammed the Omnotrix on his chest to change into Upgrade. Kid stared as the Galvanic Mechamorph took over the door and opened it again. He, Robin and Aqualad quickly entered and Upgrade closed the doors just in time to keep the Guardian and his Genomorphs outside. After that, he jumped out of the door and turned back into Ben and turned towards Robin and Aqualad.

"I disabled the door," he told them.

"Uh. Guys?" Kid called out.  
"You'll wanna see this."

All eyes widened as the noticed the pod with the letters Kr on it in the middle of the room. Inside lay a teenage version of superman, wearing a white suit with the red crest of the House of El. Above him stood sat three of those small Genomorphs.

"Big K, little r. The atomic symbol for Krypton!" Kid Flash remembered.

"Think that's a clone?" Ben wondered.

The other three stared at him as if he had said something stupid, and the brunette shrugged. Aqualad looked away first, turning towards the youngest member of their team.

"Robin. Hack."

"Right."

The Boy Wonder immediately set to work to get the information they needed.

"Weapon designation: Superboy," he read.  
"A clone force grown in… 16 weeks?! From DNA acquired from Superman."

"Stolen from Superman," Ben guessed.

"No way the big guy knows about this," Kid agreed.

"The solar suit allows him to absorb Yellow Sun radiation 24/7" Robin continued.

"And these creatures?" Aqualad asked, pointing at the three sitting on top of the pod.

"Genomorph Gnomes. Telepathic. Force feeding him an education."

"Wasn't there one of those things of Guardian's shoulder?" Ben asked.

"This is wrong," Kid Flash muttered.

"We can't leave him like this," Robin agreed.

"Set him free," Aqualad ordered after a moment of thought.

Robin immediately set to hacking the pod on his holographic computer. In a matter of seconds, the glass front slid away. The clone twitched and opened his eyes. As he focused on the four young heroes, Ben looked up, noticing the small horns of the gnomes were glowing red. He wanted to warn the others, but Superboy had already jumped out of the pod and tackled Aqualad.

"Think they got him under mind control?" Ben asked as he searched through his various aliens for the right one.

"Looks like it," Robin agreed.

Kid already charged, followed by Robin as they both grabbed one arm of the clone in an attempt to make him stop beating up Aqualad. The Kryptonian clone didn't seem fazed by it and simply threw both teens off of him.

"Rath!" the tiger like alien now standing in Ben's place yelled before charging the fighting males.  
"Let me tell you something clone of Superman. Nobody attacks Rath's friends and doesn't get beat up by Rath!"

The Apoplexian was actually able to throw the clone to the other side of the room and he ran after him. before he could get there, Robin hat already shot Superboy with his Taser, but the thing didn't seem to do any damage. The clone just grabbed the cords and pulled Robin over, slamming him into the floor with one hand. Before he could do anything else, Rath grabbed him and gave him a headbutt. That seemed to hurt Rath just as much as it did the clone but at least it bought Aqualad enough time to hit Superboy with a water hammer. Rath was back on him in seconds, beating the clone as hard as he could.

"Don't hurt him too much!" Aqualad called.  
"He is being controlled."

Rath paused and looked over at the Atlantean. He looked like he wanted to argue, but the clone hit him hard in the head, making Rath loose conscious and change back into Ben. Next, he attacked Aqualad. The young hero stood his ground and got in a few good hits, but Superboy was much stronger and faster than he was. Once all four heroes were out, Superboy forced the locked door open and walked up to the Cadmus scientists waiting outside. Dr. Desmond smiled as he saw the unconscious forms of the four teens and looked back at the clone.

"Atta boy."

* * *

 _ **I still haven't decided on which pairing aside from the fact that it will almost definitely be either Batgirl or Zatanna. I know Batgirl doesn't really play a part in the first season, but I really like her, so I'll most likely put her in this anyway.**_

 _ **Please let me know whether you want Ben to end up with either of them, or if you have another idea for a pairing. Also, Tell me which episodes from the series you want to see back in this.**_

 _ **Thank you for reading this story and see you guys on the next update this Friday!**_


	4. Fireworks

**A new chapter! Haven't yet made up my mind on Ben's pairing, though I'll most likely go for Batgirl and have Zatanna with Robin, like suggested by** **Spiderfan626** **. I like Zatanna and Robin too, but I wasn't sure because they don't really date and when they do, they don't stay together, which I think is pretty sad, they look like a good match. If anyone has other suggestions, please let me know!**

 **Also, a big thanks to** **xxxrae97xxx** **for the nice comment and my apologies to** **ominking** **, but I'm not a big fan of harems, so Ben will only have one girlfriend, even if he does deserve with his whole universe gone.**

* * *

Cadmus

 _"_ _Time runs short. You must awaken. You must awaken, now!"_

Ben gasped as he woke up, eyes wide as he looked around. He was chained inside a pod, just like the one they had found Superboy in. Next to him, Robin, Kid Flash and Aqualad were in the same position as he was, apparently also just waking up. Ben carefully tested out his bonds, hoping to find a way to escape and use the Omnitrix.

"Master Control would _really_ come in handy right about now," he muttered softly.

The only one who seemed to hear him was Robin, who glanced over for a second before focusing back on the clone standing in front of the pods, staring straight at Kid Flash.

"What?! What do you want?!" Kid yelled at him.  
"Quit staring! You're creeping me out!"

"Uh, KF. How about we _not_ tick off the guy who can fry us with a look?" Robin suggested.

"We only sought to help you," Aqualad said to Superboy.

"Yeah! We free you, and you turn on us. How's that for gratitude?" Kid asked angrily.

"Still think he's under mind control guys," Ben told the others.

"What if… what if I am?" Superboy asked whispering.

"He can talk?!" Kid asked shocked, gaining some glares, especially from Superboy.

"Yes. _He_ can," the clone growled.

Ben, Robin and Aqualad glared at the redheaded speedster, who looked back at them with a slight frown on his face.

"It's not like I said it!"

"Those Genomorphs thought you. Telepathically," Aqualad stated, looking back at Superboy.

"They thought me much," the clone replied.  
"I can read, write. I know the names of things."

"But have you seen them?" Ben asked.  
"Have they ever let you see the sky and the sun?"

"Images are implanted in my mind," Superboy told them.  
"But… no. I have not seen them."

"Do you know what you are? Who you are?" Aqualad asked.

Superboy frowned for a second before straightening up and staring proudly at the four imprisoned teenage heroes.

"I am the Superboy," he replied with pride lacing his voice.  
"A Genomorph. A clone. Created by the DNA of the Superman. Created to replace him should he perish… or to destroy him should he turn from the light."

"To be like Superman is a worthy aspiration," Aqualad agreed.  
"But like Superman, you deserve a life of your own. Beyond that solar suit. Beyond your pod. Beyond Cadmus."

As the Atlantean spoke, Superboy seemed to grow more angry. A deep scowl formed on his forehead, pushing his brows closer together.

"I live _because_ of Cadmus!" he shouted.  
"It is my home!"

"Your home is a test tube," Robin reminded him calmly.  
"We can show you the sun."

"Pretty sure it's after midnight," Kid Flash cut in.  
"But we can show you the moon."

"We can introduce you to Superman," Ben added smiling.

Superboy's eyes widened when he heard that, and he seemed to really consider it all. Just then, the doors opened and Dr. Desmond, the Guardian and one other female scientist walked in.

"No. They can't," Desmond spoke.  
"They'll be otherwise occupied."

He turned towards the woman who was with him as they came to a halt in front of the young heroes.

"Activate the cloning process."

"Pass! Bat Cave's crowded enough," Robin quipped.

"People keep telling me one Ben is more than enough," Ben added smirking.

Desmond scowled at the comments, but didn't react to them otherwise. Instead, he turned towards the Guardian.

"Get the weapon back to its pod!" he growled.

"Hey! How come he gets to call Supey an 'it'?" Kid asked.

Guardian walked over to Superboy and put a hand on the clone's shoulder. Frowning, Superboy shrugged him off. Desmond's Genomorph immediately jumped from his master's shoulder to Superboy and its little horns started to glow red. The clone tensed and his eyes went blank.

"You're not a real boy," Desmond told him.  
"You're a weapon and you belong to _me_!... er, Cadmus… same thing. Now get back to your pod!"

Without saying anything, Superboy turned around and did as was told. He left the room quietly while the female scientist started up the cloning process. Several electrically charged needles were injected in the teens' chests and started collecting blood samples. The four imprisoned heroes in training groaned in pain as shocks of electricity went through their bodies.

"Superboy," Aqualad whispered, hoping that his super hearing would pick up on it.  
"You live. That gives you the right to follow your own path. A weapon or a person, the choice is yours, but ask yourself: what would Superman do?"

For a few seconds, nothing happened, but then, the door was ripped out of its place and Superboy walked in though the by him created hole. Desmond, The Guardian and a Genomorph scientist ran up to him to try and stop the clone, but Superboy easily pushed the aside, knocking them all out with one blow.

"You here to help us, or fry us?" Ben asked skeptically.

Superboy paused for a moment, eyes narrowing as he focused on the brunette. When nothing happened, he smiled.

"I don't seem to have heath vision, so I guess helping is my only option."

Just at that moment, Robin, who had been working on freeing himself that entire time, unlocked his own cuffs and jumped out of the pod, rubbing his wrists with a slight frown.

"Ugh, finally!" he muttered to himself.  
"Lucky Batman _isn't_ here. He'd have my head for taking so long."

"Seriously? That's what you're worried about?" Kid asked.  
"The whole League will have our heads after tonight!"

"Free Aqualad and Ben," Robin ordered Superboy.  
"I'll get Kid Mouth."

"Don't give me orders!" Superboy growled, but he still jumped into Aqualad's pod to get him out.

When they were all freed, the five teens ran out of the room. Dr. Desmond was already back getting on his feet when they passed him by.

"You'll never get out of here!" he called after them.  
"I'll have you back in pods before morning!"

"That guy is not whelmed. Not whelmed at all," Robin muttered as he threw some explosive batarangs at the pods.

"What is it with you and this whelmed thing?" Kid asked.

As they ran away, the room behind them exploded. Ben chuckled at the antics of his teammates and grinned at Superboy, who sent him a questioning glare.

"Welcome to the team!" the brunette said laughing.

"We are still 42 levels below ground," Aqualad told the others.  
"But if we can make the elevator-"

A big hoard of Genomorph trolls cut off their path towards their escape. The group halted and turned around to find themselves cornered by the smaller, more feline Genomorphs. The trolls attacked first and Ben quickly activated the Omnitrix, slamming down on the transformation he wanted before disappearing in a flash of green light.

"Humungousaur!" the ten feet tall dinosaur like alien roared.

He grabbed the front paw of a troll that was trying to smash Robin and threw the creature backwards into another troll. While Aqualad, Robin and Kid Flash ran between the large monsters, dodging them as they tried to reach the elevator, both Humungousaur and Superboy stayed behind to fight off the attacking Genomorphs.

"Ben! Superboy!" Aqualad called out.  
"Our goal is escape, not to bury ourselves here!"

Humungousaur nodded and smashed down one more troll before running towards the others.

"You want to escape?!" Superboy asked loudly, grabbing the downed troll by an arm and throwing him into two charging ones with a loud roar.

In the meantime, Humungousaur forced open the elevator doors before transforming into Big Chill. Robin used his grappling hook to get himself up, while Big Chill grabbed Kid Flash and flew upwards. When Superboy finally arrived at the elevator shaft, he took hold of Aqualad and jumped, flying upwards as well. Before long, however, the clone started going downwards again and his eyes widened in shock.

"I'm falling?" he muttered.

Big Chill dove down quickly and grabbed hold of the two falling heroes, dropping them and Kid Flash safely on the ledge of sublevel 15, where Robin was already waiting for them.

"Superman can fly… why can't I fly?"

"Don't know," Kid Flash said.  
"But it seems you can leap tall buildings in a single bound."

"That's pretty cool too, you know," Big Chill said in his frosty voice.

"Guys! This will have to be our exit!" Robin yelled, pointing upwards to the descending elevator.

Big Chill grabbed hold of all his teammates and went intangible, pushing them through the still closed doors and into safety. However, they were already waited on by a small pack of Genomorphs. Big Chill used his ice breath to freeze over the creatures while the rest took off running, but when a second group of Genomorph trolls approached, he too flew off after the rest.

"Go left!" Superboy shouted when they approached a splitting in the hall.

The rest of the group obeyed and continued running until they reached a second split.

"Right!" the clone yelled.

Kid Flash did as told, taking a left turn before skidding to a halt when he hit a dead end. He turned towards Superboy, who had been right behind him and glared at the clone.

"Great directions Supey!" he said angrily.  
"Are you trying to get us repodded?"

Aqualad, Robin and Big Chill joined them as well, the last one quickly changing back into Ben as he looked back from where they had come, calculating their chances of getting out if they backtracked now. He had to admit they were very slim, if not entirely nonexistent.

"I'm sorry. I don't understand," Superboy muttered.

"Don't apologize! This is perfect!" Robin said grinning.

Ben looked back over, following Robin's line of sight and grinned as well. There was a vent in the wall.

. . . . .

Ben couldn't help himself as he stretched out. They were finally out of those cramped ventilating shafts. Kid Flash seemed to feel the same as he did as the redheaded speedster put on his goggles and smirked at Ben.

"Ready for that rematch?" he asked.

Ben grinned back and quickly activated the Omnitrix again, transforming into XLR8. The Kineceleran crouched down a bit and grinned .

"Watch the tail!" he cackled before rushing up the stairs, Kid Flash right behind him.

The two used their high speeds to throw every single Genomorph trying to stop them down the stairs and free a path for their slower teammates following after them. When they reached sublevel one, Kid Flash took the lead, grinning in victory as he passed XLR8. Because of that, he didn't see the closing door until it was too late.

"Holy crap!" he muttered before slamming face first into the metal door.

"Alright. You won," the Kineceleran chuckled.

The Omnitrix symbol started emitting a beeping sound before it turned XLR8 back into Ben. The brunette sighed, glaring at the red flashing watch before he helped Kid back up on his feet. The other three arrived shortly after. Superboy and Aqualad immediately tried to force the large door open, without success. Robin looked over at Ben, giving him a questioning look.

"You got anyone in there that can help?" he asked.

"Sorry, out of juice."

A few Genomorph trolls started closing in on them and Robin quickly kicked open a side door, leading the rest of them away from the gigantic monsters. On the other side of the door, Guardian was already waiting for them along with a large group of Genomorphs and Genomorph trolls. The five young heroes took on fighting stances and over a dozen small G-gnomes had their horns lighting up. Ben, Aqualad, Robin and Kid Flash lost consciousness while Superboy was brought to his knees.

When the teens woke up again, all Genomorphs had relaxed, and Guardian seemed to be released from his mind control. Next to the adult hero stood the Genomorph scientist they had seen earlier.

"Guardian?" Aqualad asked uncertain.

"Go. I'll deal with Desmond."

"I think not!" the voice of Dr. Desmond growled.

Several trolls stepped out of the way, revealing the head scientist of Project Cadmus standing behind Guardian with a vial of blue liquid in his hand.

"Project Blockbuster will give me the power to restore order to Cadmus!" he said before drinking the liquid.

The man fell to the ground, writhing in agony as his body grew and his skin was ripped to shreds by the growing, bulging blue muscle. His eyes turned black, with red pupils and he grinned, standing up again with a mighty roar. Guardian charged first, but was easily slammed to the side with an almost casual flick of the monster's hand. Ben looked down at his watch again, trying to activate the still recharging Omnitrix.

"Stupid watch," he muttered.  
"I'm useless here guys!"

"I'm not!" Superboy growled, jumping forward and hitting the monster square in the face.

It didn't seem to have much effect, as Blockbuster just shrugged it off and hit Superboy back. The two beat each other for a bit longer until Blockbuster was able to knock the clone down with one powerful hit. Superboy was back on his feet in no time and he jumped at Blockbuster, but he grabbed Superboy mid-flight and jumped through the ceiling.

"Ok, that's one way to bust through the ceiling," Robing commented as he used his grappling hook to lift himself and Kid through the hole.

"You think lab coat planned that?" Ben asked as he was finally able to activate the Omnitrix.

"I doubt he's planning anything anymore," Aqualad muttered.

"Four Arms!" the red, four armed humanoid yelled.

The Tetramand jumped upwards through the hole in the ceiling, followed closely behind by Aqualad. Just as that last one landed on the floor, Blockbuster threw Superboy at them, knocking down the Atlantean. As Kid Flash and Robin rushed over to help the other two up, Four Arms rushed forward and hit the monster in the jaw. Blockbuster stumbled back a few steps before growling angrily and swinging a large arm at the Tetramand, throwing him against the wall.

As Four Arms slowly got up again, the other four charged the beast. Kid Flash slid between the monster's legs as he tried to hit the speedster with his fist. As Kid knelt behind the monster's legs, Aqualad and Superboy hit the monster simultaneously, making him stumble backwards and fall over the couching Kid Flash.

"Learned that one in kindergarten," the redhead grinned.

Robin used his batarangs to try and slow the beast when it was getting up again, but he simply swatted them away. Four Arms jumped in between Blockbuster and Robin when the monster charged again and tried to beat him. Blockbuster was too fast and smashed Four Arms in one of the supportive beams, smashing his fist in the Tetramand's face.

"I'm gonna feel that in the morning," Four Arms groaned.

Blockbuster growled and pulled his arm back to hit him again, when Aqualad used his water lassos to stop him. The monster huffed and pulled the Atlantean towards him. Aqualad was easily smashed into the floor. Before Blockbuster could do anything else, Superboy jumped on him, but the monster threw him into another supportive beam that crumbled under the force. Superboy fell on the ground, followed by a large stone that landed on his back, making the clone groan in pain.

Blockbuster hit Four Arms in the face again, knocking the Tetramand out and having him transform back into Ben before focusing on Aqualad. He tried to step on the Atlantean, but Aqualad moved out of the way just as Kid Flash rushed in to help him. Blockbuster grabbed the speedster by the arm and swung him into Aqualad before the other could attack again. Both flew through the air and landed in yet another support beam. Kid was knocked unconscious, but Aqualad was still up. With a feral growl, Blockbuster grabbed the Atlantean and ran him though the beam and into another, hitting him hard. The force made the entire room shake, giving Robin, who had been observing the battle the entire time an idea.

"Of course!" he muttered as he pulled up a structural blueprint of the room.  
"KF, Ben! Get over here!"

The two young heroes pulled themselves up and ran over to their youngest teammate. Superboy was back on his feet as well, and he rushed over to where Blockbuster was still beating up Aqualad to help his new friend out. This resulted in another structure beam being pulverized.

After Robin had explained his plan, Ben transformed into Humungousaur while Kid ran over to the fight. He successfully got Blockbuster's attention away from Superboy and led the monster away from his friends with taunts. Before Superboy could go after them, Robin called them over.

"Come and get me you Incredible Bulk!" Kid called out to the monster as he halted in front of a beam.

The monster growled and took a swing at him, which Kid barely dodged and destroyed the beam. At the same time, Robin sent Aqualad, Superboy and Humungousaur to destroy three other beams as well. He himself drew a large cross in the middle of the room and sped away to a safer place while Kid led the monster to the marked spot. When they got there, Humungousaur and Superboy both jumped in front of the monster while Kid moved away and smashed him into the ground.

While Blockbuster was down, Robin let the last three beams explode. Ben quickly transformed back into a human and joined the others running as they tried to escape the roof coming down on them. Superboy and Aqualad jumped over Kid Flash and Robin to shield them from the rubble as they were all buried underneath the destroyed building.

When Ben opened his eyes, he stared around himself and the other's admiring the softly glowing light green dome around them. The others seemed pretty shocked too to find themselves completely unscathed from the rubble. Ben looked down at his green glowing hands and grinned at his perplexed friends.

"Didn't even know I could do that!" he exclaimed.

"Dude, you are _going_ to tell us some stories soon," Kid muttered.

Superboy wasn't even listening anymore, as he walk through the remains of the building and found an unconscious Blockbuster. When he turned back, he found the other four grinning at him.

"See?" Kid Flash asked, pointing at the sky.  
"The moon!"

Superboy looked up, awed. A small dot appeared in his vision and he squinted, eyes widening as he recognized the approaching figure.

"And Superman!" Ben grinned.  
"Do we keep our promises or what?"

Superman landed in front of the five teens, followed by almost everyone in the League. The flying heroes all floated down while Green Lantern John Steward brought over the non-flying ones on a green platform created by his power ring. Batman was the first to approached, walking up next to Superman while Superboy took a few steps towards them, smiling hopeful at the man who's DNA he carried. Superman's eyes widened in shock before he frowned, destroying all hope the clone had felt.

"Is that what I think it is?" Batman asked.

"He doesn't like being called an it," Kid mock whispered to the League.

"I'm Superman's clone!" Superboy said loudly.

The many heroes reacted in different levels of shock and surprise. Batman glared at the teens.

"Start talking."

By the time they finally finished explaining what had happened, John Steward, Martian Manhunter, Hawkwoman, Hawkman and Captain Atom left together with Blockbuster while the rest of the League heroes stood together to talk. Hal Jordan, the Green Lantern currently still with the other heroes, walked over to Ben and the other teens and crossed his arms.

"I understand that you are used to doing things your own way, but now you're here, you have to follow our rules," Green Lantern scolded, clearly disappointed in Ben.  
"You're not the only one anymore, Ben."

"I know," the brunette replied, rolling his eyes.  
"Which is why I didn't come here alone."

Hall sighed and took off in the air.

"We'll talk later," he warned before flying off.

As Green Lantern disappeared, Superman walked up, stopping in front of and angrily scowling Superboy. The older Kryptonian sighed as he looked straight into his clone's eyes. The big Boy Scout seemed uncertain what to say for a moment before he finally opened his mouth and started talking.

"We'll… we'll figure something out. The League I mean. For now I… better make sure they get that Blockbuster creature squared away."

With that, Superman took to the air and followed after Green Lantern.

"Cadmus will be investigated. All 52 levels," Batman spoke up.  
"But let's make one thing clear-"

"You should have called!" Flash jumped in.

"End results aside, we are not happy," Batman continued glaring at the teens.  
"You hacked Justice League systems, disobeyed direct orders and endangered lives. You will not be doing this again."

"Hate to break this to you dude, but we will," Ben said crossly.

"Stand down boy," Aquaman ordered.

"Apologies My King, but no," Aqualad stepped up next to the Omnitrix wielder.  
"We did good work here tonight. The work you trained us to do. Together, on our own, we forged something powerful, important."

"If this about your treatment at the Hall, the four of you-" Flash started before Kid Flash stopped him.

"The five of us, and it's not."

"Batman, we're ready to use what you taught us. Or why teach us at all?" Robin asked his mentor.

"Why let them tell us what to do?" Superboy asked.  
"It's simple: get on board or get out of the way!"

All five teens stared expectantly at the three mentors standing in front of them.

. . . . .

Coast City, July 8, 04:59 EDT

Ben came rushing down the stairs the second he heard the doorbell and quickly slammed the door open. He grinned tiredly as he found Hal Jordan standing there, smiling back at him. The brunette hero in civilian clothing walked into the house and looked around.

"Your grandmother not here?" he asked.

"She went back to my universe," Ben replied yawning.  
"Apparently, Gwen's powers are manifesting, so she's going to stay there for a while to train her."

"What about your training?" Hal asked.

"I barely have the spark. There isn't much to improve on anymore."

"So you're home alone?" Hal demanded to know, raising a brow.

"Yup! Professor Paradox stopped by a few days ago to congratulate me on making the Team, but he left again and took Azmuth with him," the teen shrugged.

"You're left on your own for an unknown period of time?" the hero asked skeptically.

"Relax, dude! I'm actually 20 years old, so I don't see the problem."

"Only you aren't! You're 15."

"Still old enough," Ben muttered crossly.

Hal sighed annoyed and walked over to Ben and activated the teleporter.

"When we come back, you pack your bags and you move to my place until Verdona is back."

Mount Justice, 08:04 EDT

"This cave was the original secret sanctuary of the Justice League. We're calling it into service again," Batman explained the five boys in their civilian clothes.

Ben was wearing his favorite green jacket with the white number ten left on his chest and a black shirt underneath. He had his hands buried deep in his jeans pockets as he couldn't stop grinning. The rest of the team seemed to be in a similar state.

"Since you five are determined to stay together and fight the good fight, you'll do it on League terms. Red Tornado has volunteered to live here and be your supervisor and Black Canary is in charge of training. I will deploy you on missions."

" _Real_ missions?" Dick asked skeptically, staring at his mentor from behind his shades.

"Yes," Batman replied.  
"But covert."

"The League will still handle the obvious stuff," Flash butted in.  
"There's a reason we have these big targets on our chests."

"But Cadmus proves that the bad guys are getting smarter," Aquaman added.  
"Batman needs a team that can operate on the sly."

"The six of you will be that team."

"Cool!" Ben cheered, before pausing and staring at the heroes questioningly.  
"Wait. Six?"

Just then, Martian Manhunter walked into the room, followed by a teenage girl with green skin and ginger hair. She wore a blue skirt and cape and a white version of the older alien's shirt.

"This is the Martian Manhunter's niece, Miss Martian," Batman introduced the new girl.

"Hi!"

"Liking this gig more every minute!" Wally whispered to Ben and Dick before walking over to the newcomer.  
"Welcome aboard! I'm Kid Flash. That's Robin, Aqualad, Ben 10. It's cool if you forget their names."

"I'm honored to be included," Miss Martian smiled.

Wally, Ben, Kaldur and Dick walked over to her and started a conversation. Superboy kept standing where he was, frowning as he watched the others interact.

"Hey Superboy!" Robin called.  
"Come meet Miss M."

The clone walked up to the rest, making the Martian girl smile. Her shirt turned black, and the cape disappeared as she glanced up shyly at the Kryptonian teen.

"I like your T-shirt," she commented.

Ben elbowed Superboy as the taller teen smiled and Wally threw an arm over his shoulder.

"Today is the day," Kaldur spoke.

Unknown Location

"Can the Light afford to leave Guardian in charge without the G-Gnomes?" one of seven figures asked.

"We have subtler means to control," another replied before turning towards a picture of Superboy, Ben 10, Robin, Kid Flash and Aqualad running through the halls of Cadmus.  
"What concerns me are the children. We now know that the League is willing to deploy young heroes to do their dirty work. That's a dark twist."

"Yes, but one that can be played to our advantage," the first one spoke again.  
"Even the temporary loss of the weapon may prove useful. Eventually, everyone will see the Light."


	5. Unforgotten

**This is an original chapter. I am planning on making more of those, but I'm not sure if I should focus on these type of chapters or on the episodes of Young Justice. There will definitely be more of both though.**

 **Let me know what you guys like best and tell me your favorite episode so I can put those in too!**

* * *

Coast City, July 20, 11:30 PDT

"I'm so bored!" Ben groaned, glaring at Hal, who just walked into the living room.

The older hero raised a brow and glanced over at the TV, which switched channels very half second with Ben constantly pushing buttons on the remote. Ship was sitting right in front of the screen, jumping excitedly every time the channel changed. Hal rolled his eyes at his charge's immature behavior. He knew well enough by this point that Ben had a habit of acting childish and unreasonable whenever he was bored.

"Look at something a bit longer than a second," he commented amused.  
"Maybe it'll help figuring out what you want to watch."

"What I want is beat up bad guys!" Ben replied frustrated.  
"I used to do it every day in my home world, but here you make me train and practice without ever letting me do anything more than taking on the small fries on patrol! I saved my entire Universe more than once. I stopped an alien invasion for crying out loud!"

Ben huffed and pouted as Hal just looked at him unimpressed and crossed his arms. The two held a short staring contest, one that was easily won by the older hero. Ben turned his head in defeat and scowled at the floor.

"Then go outside for a bit," the hero shrugged.  
"If you're lucky, someone is robbing a bank."

"I did that yesterday, I don't think they're going to rob a bank this soon again," Ben muttered, crossing his arms.

"Then go out with some friends!" Hal replied, getting a bit annoyed himself at the teen's behavior.

Ben opened his mouth to complain, but the beeping from Hal's communicator shut him up. The older hero put his finger to his ear and listened to whatever was being said. Hal's expression turned serious and he muttered a soft confirmation before turning back towards Ben.

"There's a situation at the Watchtower," he said.

"Be safe!" Ben called sweetly, grinning at his part time mentor.

Hal rolled his eyes and chuckled, ruffling his charge's hair before activating the teleporter and disappearing. Once the hero was gone, Ben's expression went back to being extremely bored and he continued his channel surfing. Ship didn't seem like he was up for much more of Ben's antics, and the dog like Galvanic Mechamorph jumped on his lap.

"Ship, ship!"

"What's wrong buddy? Getting stir crazy too?"

"Ship!"

"I know, let's go for a little flight!"

"Ship! Ship! Ship!"

"That's a great idea! And he did say I should go out with friends, so…"

Ben grinned at his pet and patted his head as he grabbed for his phone. He dialed a number and it rang a total of three times before it was answered.

 _"_ _Hello? Ben?"_ the voice of Kid Flash rang through the line.

"Sup Wally?" the brunette greeted cheerfully.  
"You got anything to do?"

 _"_ _Hanging out with Boy Wonder, but we're up for some action. Got something in mind?"_

Instead of answering, Ben held the phone close to Ship and egged the alien on to make a sound.

"Ship, ship!"

 _"_ _Alright,"_ Dick spoke.  
 _"You got our full attention."_

. . . . .

Central City, 14:00 CDT

The people in Central City park could be found staring upwards to the sky when a black and green Spaceship descended on an empty patch of grass not far from picnicking families. Wally West and Dick Grayson, who had been hanging out under some trees quickly approached, large grins on their faces as the Ship opened its door and Ben stuck his head out, waving the two over. The brunette teen was wearing his usual civilian clothing, existing out of a green jacket with a black shirt underneath and blue jeans.

The ship itself was anything but normal. The box-shaped vessel seemed to be made out of one huge black rock with green illuminate stripes going through it. As Dick and Wally entered, they saw that the inside was very much like the outside, as even the chairs and monitors were made out of the same material without even showing a stitch. They stared around in awe as they entered the ship, voicing their amazement while they took off.

"Welcome on my awesome Spaceship!" Ben grinned as his two friends sat down.

 **"** **Ship!"**

Wally jumped in surprise as a head appeared close to where he had been leaning against the monitors, making both Ben and Dick chuckle in amusement. The head was more like a black bubble with a large green circle in the middle. The top of the circle moved inwards until it formed something more akin to a crescent.

"Alright fine! He wants to be here himself," the brunette muttered, rolling his eyes.  
"But still, you're _officially_ my pet you know. With Julie… gone… we only have each other."

The black head drooped sadly and frowned as Ben said that.

 **"** **Ship…"**

The two teen heroes frowned at the pain they could hear in in both Ben's voice and that of the alien. Their friend's green eyes, usually full of life and shining with mischief were now filled with a deep sadness Dick found painfully familiar. He could sense great loss in them.

"You alright buddy?" Wally asked worried.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine," Ben replied weakly.

"You know you can always talk to us, right?" Dick said.

"I know, thanks."

"So what's the plan?" Boy Wonder asked.

"I was thinking I'd show you guys what the real HQ looks like from the outside," Ben replied grinning.

He seemed to have gotten over whatever had him down earlier, but Batman's protégé wasn't that easily tricked. Ben was still mourning over someone.

"Really?! That's awesome!" Wally exclaimed.  
"We're going into space!"

Ben chuckled at his friend's enthusiasm and focused his attention back on steering the ship. Before they knew it, they were in orbit. Both Wally and Dick had never been off planet before, so they were awed at the sight of the Earth. The sight of the blue planet, nestled between the blackness of the Universe and the thousands of shining stars was overwhelming.

"This is amazing!" Dick spoke grinning.  
"You do this often?"

"Yeah. The view always sets me at ease," Ben replied.  
"It reminds me that Earth is still there and everyone is still alive."

"Dude! Way to make it depressing!" Wally said frowning.

"You lost people, didn't you?" Dick mumbled softly.

"Technically, I never had anyone to lose in the first place."

"Harsh! What happened?" the red haired speedster asked.

Ben frowned, but refrained from replying as he steered Ship towards the Watchtower, staying suspended once they were looking straight at it from a distance. All questions disappeared from the other two teens' minds as they saw it.

"We need to come here more often," Dick said, eyes wide in awe behind his shades.

"Absolutely. Coming here more is an absolute must," Wally agreed, nodding wildly.

A beeping sound of the ship's communicator had them all turn away from the window. Ben pressed a button and the holographic face of Batman appeared in front of them. The three teens all looked between each other nervously as they saw the angry expression of the Dark Knight.

 _"_ _What do you three think you're doing?"_ he asked them sternly.

"Taking in the view?" Wally tried with a weak grin.

"We're just looking Bats," Ben told the older hero.  
"We're not hurting anyone, right? Besides, it was Hal's idea."

 _"_ _You need to go back,"_ Batman ordered, ignoring their replies.  
 _"Something is happening, and we're still investigating. As long as we don't know whether it's dangerous or not, no one is allowed in this area."_

The three teens were a bit startled by this. Ben remembered Hal had said there was a situation at the Watchtower, but if Batman told them to leave space for it, it must be a lot more serious than he had initially thought. The Boy Wonder seemed to have the same idea, as he frowned at his mentor and took a step closer to the holograph.

"What is it?" Dick asked curiously.  
"Maybe we can help!"

 _"_ _No."_

 **"** **Ship! Ship!"**

Their attention was driven back to the beeping monitors as Ben quickly slammed some buttons. The holograph of Batman disappeared and instead, a map of the solar system was pulled up. Ben frowned and enlarged an area not that far away from their current location. To their shock, some sort of bright red vortex could be seen. Dick and Wally crowded closer to Ben to get a better view of whatever was going on, brows creased in confusion as they stared at the holographic map.

"What's that?" Wally asked.

"Don't know, Ship just picked up strange anomalies in the perimeter, but there's something weird with it. It's like whatever is happening is opening a vortex between this Universe and-" Ben replied before stopping himself, his eyes growing wide in shock.  
"Impossible!"

"What?" Dick wanted to know.  
"What's going on?"

Instead of replying, Ben strapped himself back in the driver's seat and piloted Ship towards the happenings. As they approached the large fiery vortex, Ben sped up and flew right in. Dick and Wally were thrown to the back of the ship by the sheer force of the collision. Both smacked painfully against the back wall and temporarily lost consciousness.

When they came to, the entire ship looked different. Instead of black with illuminating green lines running through, it was blue and grey, with a large Omnitrix symbol in the back and comfortable looking green and black seats. While the two teenage heroes looked around their new surroundings, Ben walked over to them, an apologetic, worried look on his face.

"You guys alright?" he asked.

"It would be better if you told us what the heck is going on!" Wally grumbled.

Ben opened his mouth to reply, but just then, a second him appeared behind him, along with a red haired girl who held a strange, alien animal in her arms, and an older, black haired boy sitting in the piloting seat. Ben, the real one, made a choked noise as recognition clouded his usually bright eyes. He leaned closer and whispered a name, tears slowly gathering in the corners of his eyes, but the three newcomers acted as if they weren't even there.

 _"_ _We're not gonna make it!" Kevin yelled from where he was flying the ship._

 _The pet Galvanic Mechamorph jumped out of Gwen's arms. It barked its own name a few times before melting into the jet. The interior of it became the familiar black with glowing green highlights and shot forward at twice the speed as before._

 _"_ _We're getting away!" Gwen called out relieved as she looked through the window._

 _"_ _Good job Ship," the new Ben praised the pet, looking outside as well._

The real Ben, still standing in the back with his two friends started trembling and his eyes grew moist as he reached out a hand towards his cousin. He took a few steps closer to her, but before he could touch her, she and the rest of their surroundings disappeared. Now, the three young heroes were standing in the middle of a street, as a black fog started closing in. The same duo of a red haired girl and a black haired guy they had seen earlier on the strange ship came running past, followed by a desperate shout from behind them.

 _"_ _Ben!"_

 _"_ _Julie!"_

 _The brunette teenage hero turned to watch his girlfriend disappear into the black fog that was slowly but surely covering the entire planet. Another version of him reached out his hand, but he was too late. Both Ben's eyes widened as the black haired girl was enveloped by the black fog._ _Tears pricked in his eyes as he turned away again and ran after Gwen and Kevin._

"Why?" the real Ben muttered as the surroundings changed once more.

Wally and Dick walked up closer to him, noticing the tears streaming down Ben's cheeks as he stared at the school building in front of them. 'Bellwood High School' was written in proud letters on the large board in front of the building and many teenagers walked around, talking and laughing with each other. Ben frowned as he noticed his old school, but soon tensed in shock as a very familiar redhead came their way.

"Gwen…" he mumbled softly.

"Who the hell is this chick anyway?" Wally whispered at Dick, who just shrugged in reply.

Gwen walked past, but as she walked next to Ben, she paused turning her head and squinting, as if trying to see something that wasn't there. Ben's breath stocked as she reached out for him and he stretched out his own arm to meet with hers, but before they could reach each other however, a voice called her back.

 _"_ _Gwen!"_

 _The redhead turned around and smiled at the short black haired girl waving at her. She waved at Julie, and the other girl smiled back before approaching._

 _"_ _Is everything alright?" Julie asked concerned as she stared up at her friend._

 _"_ _I just feel like I forgot something important," the redhead muttered in reply._

 _"_ _I'm sure it'll come back to you soon… whatever it is!" the raven said cheerfully.  
"You're still coming to my game right?"_

 _"_ _Of course! I already made sure Kevin is free to drive me."_

 _"_ _Really?" Julie asked, a sly grin playing on her lips.  
"Are you using me as an excuse to have a date with him?"_

 _"_ _Oh please! I'm not going to wait around forever for him to finally ask me out!" Gwen scoffed._

 _"_ _At least you have someone! There are absolutely no cute single guys left," Julie sighed sadly._

 _"_ _You'll find someone you like, I'm sure," the redhead comforted her smiling.  
"You're an amazing girl, and smart! Any guy would be so lucky to have you!"_

"I was so lucky," Ben muttered in agreement, though neither girl heard him.

Dick and Wally however, did and both raised a brow. Their friend didn't seem to notice them as he walked closer to the two talking girls, but they began fading once more. Ben's eyes widened as the two girls slowly started fading into the air.

"No! Don't leave me!" he screamed, lunging forward and grabbing at the black haired girl, only to be met with air.

When the scene changed this time, they were back in space, on Ship. Ben was sitting on his knees, eyes wide and tears falling down his face in a constant stream. His entire body was trembling. Dick and Wally rushed over, just as Ben fell forward and curled up in himself. They grabbed him by the shoulders and hauled him back into a sitting position.

"Why? … How? … Why did I have to see that again?" Ben sobbed.

"What was that about?" Dick asked him, concern lacing his voice.

"That… was who I lost."

"You have a lot of explaining to do," Wally muttered.

Ben nodded and slowly stood up, wiping away his tears with the sleeve of his favorite green jacket. He gave his two friends a weak smile and motioned for them to follow him back to the cockpit of the ship. With a heavy sight, he dropped down on the pilot seat.

"I know," Ben sighed sadly.  
"Sit down guys. It's… kind of a long story."

. . . . .

Unknown Location

"Do you think they noticed you coming through the Vortex?" one figure asked.

Seven computer screens were showing the vague, white outlines of just as many people as a white haired teenager with red eyes and an equally red jacket stood in the middle of the room. The young male crossed his arms and smirked as he stared at the figure that had just spoken.

"Don't overestimate their knowledge," the albino replied.  
"Benjamin Tennyson is too preoccupied with his self-pity to notice anything right now."

"Very well," a second figure spoke.  
"So we have a deal? You help the Light and in return Ben 10 is yours."

"Yes. We have a deal," the albino agreed.

The seven figures disappeared from the screens and only the albino stayed. He looked around the room for a short moment before his eyes fell on the life camera feat of Ben, Wally and Dick talking. A smirk crossed the so familiar features as the white haired teen traced a finger over the screen and Ben's crying figure.

"Poor boy," he murmured amused and chuckled darkly.  
"Completely forgotten by everyone you love."

Red eyes traveled from the screen to his left wrist, where a large, bulky red Omnitrix watch was sitting. The albino caressed the Ultimatrix as his eyes snapped back up to watch his brunette counterpart's every move, his smirk turning wider and gaining a predatory glint.

"Don't worry Ben. I, for one, have never forgotten about you."

* * *

 **And Albedo arrived! He won't be playing a big roll yet, but we will be seeing him again every now and then for sure. I wonder what will happen if the rest of the Team finds out about Ben's evil twin.**

 **Not sure if any other Ben 10 villains or other characters should show up though. I'll probably keep to just one for a while. Maybe if you guys want to see someone appearing.**


	6. Drop Zone

**I bet that a lot of you guys didn't think I'd continue this, right?**

 **It took super long before I was able to write this, and I'm really sorry about that. I'm just terrible at finishing stories and all. I start them, super excited, but then I think of another story, and another, and another and… yeah ^_^'**

* * *

 _"_ _Access granted, Ben Ten, B-10,"_ the robotic voice of the computerized transporter announced.  
 _"Access granted, Ship, Mechamorph, B-11."_

A very tired looking Ben entered the mountain with Ship perched happily on his right shoulder and grinned at the code he'd been given.

"Looks like Batman does take requests," he chuckled.

"You seriously asked for B-10? That's so lame dude!" Kid Flash teased.

Ben just yawned and shrugged while Ship jumped off his shoulder and ran over to Robin, barking happily a few times as he pawed at the Boy Wonder's leg. Robin chuckled and petted him. Aqualad, Superboy and Miss Martian both stared at the strange creature, before looking back at Ben.

"What's that?" Superboy asked.

"That's Ship. My pet," the brunette replied.

The Martian smiled and knelt down next to the small alien pet, holding out her hand towards him. Ship stopped playing with Robin for a moment to observe the green skinned girl and carefully crawled forward. He sniffed Miss Martian's hand a bit, but as he didn't find anything wrong with it, he pushed his whole head into the palm with a pleased sigh.

"He's so cute!" the girl gasped as she petted him.

"Until he possesses a giant carnival ride and tries to abduct your date," Ben replied dryly.

"That happened?" Robin asked shocked.

"It's how I met him," Ben laughed.  
"He tried to get my attention because his maker was dying. I saved his life and got Ship in return."

"Nice deal! It won you a freaking spaceship!" Kid exclaimed.

"That thing is a spaceship?" Superboy asked skeptically.

"Among other things!" Ben replied nodding.  
"Ship can turn into anything technologic he observed, and he can possess and upgrade anything too."

"That is very interesting," Aqualad spoke up, watching as the Martian girl and the Galvanic Mechamorph played together.  
"Is he an alien as well?"

"Unless you've seen his kind running around here more often," Kid snorted.  
"I'd say he definitely is an alien."

"His kind is called Galvanic Mechamorph," Ben explained.  
"Their home planet is the moon of Galvan Prime, the home of the most intelligent race in the Galaxy, the Galvan. Their First Thinker created the Omnitrix… and the Mechamorphs, though the last one was an accident. Azmuth never planned on creating a whole new lifeform."

Five sets of eyes blinked at Ben and stared at him with blank expressions.

"Yeah, because creating a new lifeform is such a fail, seriously," Kid said dryly.

"I never said it was a bad thing," the brunette shrugged.

The conversation died down when Batman and Red Tornado entered the cave and walked straight to the control panels. While the Team walked closer, Batman pulled up a map of an island. Ben glanced over to Kid Flash and grinned in excitement. None of the heroes had said a word yet, but it was pretty obvious they were getting a mission. Their first real one.

"Isla Santa Prisca. This island nation is the primary source of a dangerous and illegal neo steroid. A strength enhancing drug sold under the street name Venom," Batman told the Team.  
"Infra-red heath signatures indicate that the factory is still operating at full capacity , but all shipments of Venom have all been inexplicably cut off. That's where this team comes in. This is a covert, recon mission only. Observe and report. If the Justice League needs to intervene, it will. This mission requires two drop zones."

"So who's in charge?" Robin asked.

Batman and Red Tornado looked at each other before looking back at the young teen who had asked the question.

"Work that out between you," Batman replied.

Robin nodded and the debriefing continued. Ben however, noticed the smug smile on his friend's face. To Dick, it had already been decided who would lead.

. . . . .

Caribbean Sea, July 22, 20:08 ECT

The Bioship and Ship flew side by side over the water while the Team inside were taking their mission over once more. They were split in two teams, Ben and Aqualad were team A, and Robin, Miss Martian, Kid Flash and Superboy were team B.

 _"_ _We're approaching Santa Prisca,"_ Miss Martian said through the com.

"Drop Zone A in 30," Ben announced.

Both he and Aqualad undid their belts and walked over to the back of the Ship, waiting for Ship to open the hangar. Aqualad pressed his belt and his uniform turned black as he looked over at Ben. The brunette messed with the Omnitrix for a moment before transforming into Ripjaws. He stared at his claws for a second and grinned triumphantly.

"Gotta love the classics!" he said before giving Ship the signal.

 **"** **Ship!"** he called as the hangar opened.

Aqualad dove first, followed immediately after by Ripjaws. As soon as both hit the water, Ship turned and flew back from where he came. He would wait to pick them up again at a safe distance until Ben called for him.

The two young heroes swam over to underwater fence keeping them separated from the island. Ripjaws opened his mouth wide and simply ripped through it with his large teeth. He and Aqualad quickly jumped on shore and Ben transformed back, now wearing his usual hero uniform but in black and dark green for stealth, a setting Azmuth had added as soon as he and Paradox had returned from their little trip. Aqualad had in the meantime messed with the sensors. Once he was done there, he nodded towards Ben.

"Heath and motion sensors are patched," Ben spoke through the communicator.  
"Data is on a continues loop. Move in."

The invisible Bioship flew overhead and moved to drop Zone B, where the rest of the Team donned their stealth uniforms and quickly got on land. Kid Flash and Robin used the hooks provided the slide down to the ground while Miss Martian flew down. Once everyone was safely down, Superboy just jumped, landing with great force.

"Knew I didn't need a line," Superboy said smugly.

"And yet creating a seismic event may not have helped us much with the covert!" Robin scolded.

"Aqualad, Ben, Drop B is a go," Miss Martian spoke through the com.

 _"_ _Roger that. Head to the factory. We'll follow your GPS and rendezvous ASAP."_

Team B quickly did as Aqualad said and took off towards the factory at a high speed. They moved through the dense forest with ease, until Superboy suddenly stopped and frowned.

"Did you hear that?" he asked.

"No," Kid Flash replied in a hushed tone.  
"Wait. Is this a super hearing thing?"

"You do have great ears," Miss Martian commented swooning.

"Ok Rob, now what?" Kid Flash asked whispering, only to notice Robin wasn't there anymore.  
"Man, I hate it when he does that!"

 _"_ _Superboy, Kid, switch to infra-red,"_ Big Chill's voice rang through the coms.  
 _"See if you're being tracked. Aqualad and I are almost at your coordinates."_

Kid put on his goggles and turned on the infra-red, looking at his surroundings.

"Got a squad of armed bozos incoming," he told the others.

"Two squads," Superboy corrected.  
"But they'll meet each other before they find us."

Suddenly, the air was filled with the sound of guns going off.

"No super hearing required now!" Kid Flash commented.

 _"_ _Swing wide and steer clear!"_ Aqualad told the Team.

"Yeah, yeah. As soon as I find Rob!" Kid replied before speeding off.

Suddenly, he tripped and fell, rolling off the hill he had been on and in the middle of the gunfight going on between the two groups. As the red haired speedster looked up, he stared straight at an angry Bane aiming a machine gun at him.

"So much for the stealthy," Kid muttered to himself.

Both sides now started shooting at him, and Kid had to dodge many bullets as he ran out of the danger zone. Bane aimed at him again, but before he could shoot, he was incased in ice. In a matter of seconds, everyone who couldn't get away in time suffered the same fate. Two men had escaped the ice-attack and were chasing Kid. Robin jumped on top of them, knocking them out immediately.

"What is wrong with you guys?!" he shouted.  
"Remember covert? Why didn't you follow my lead and disappear into the jungle?"

"That's what you were doing?" Kid asked angry.  
"Way to fill us in! We're not mind readers you know!"

"Except for Miss Martian," Big Chill muttered as he suddenly appeared.

"You told me I could only read the bad guys' minds," the green skinned girl said.

The fight was already over, with everyone either incased in ice or escaped, and the whole Team, including Ben and Aqualad joined the two arguing teens. With the help of Swampfire, all the bad guys were melted again and tied up with thick vines.

"I recognize those uniforms," Robin told the others.  
"They belong to the cult of the Kobra."

"I am certain Batman would have mentioned it if he knew a dangerous extremist was running the Santa Prisca Venom operation," Aqualad spoke.

"Exactly! And since there is clearly no love lost between the Kobra and those goons, I'm betting they're not here for some tea and cookies. That's probably why the supply lines have been cut off," Ben noted thoughtfully.

"I get it. Kobra wanted super cultists," Kid Flash said.  
"Mission done. Radio Bats and we can be home in-"

"Only these cultists aren't on Venom," Robin cut in.  
"Kobra's hoarding the stuff! We don't leave. Not until I know why."

"Until _you_ know why?" Kid asked angry.

"This team needs a leader!"

"And it's you? Dude, you're a 13 year old kid! Who docked out on us without a word!"

"And you're a mature 15? You blew our cover first chance you got!"

"Don't you want to lead?" Miss Martian asked Ben.

"Not really. You?"

"No thanks."

"You don't even have super powers!" Kid continued yelling at Robin.

"Neither does Batman!"

"You're not Batman!"

"Closest thing we got!"

The two stopped arguing when Bane suddenly laughed.

"Such clever Niños," the large man spoke.  
"But you only know half the story. Let me show you the rest, get you into the factory via my secret entrance."

Miss Martian knelt down in front of him and looked the villain in the eyes.

"There is a secret entrance," she confirmed.  
"But he's also hiding something."

Her eyes lit up white and she concentrated harder on the man's thoughts. Bane smirked at her and shook his head.

"Ah ah ah, chica! Bane is not that easy."

"Ugh! He's mentally residing football scores, en Español! This could take a while," Megan said.

"It's not complicated. The enemy of my enemy is my friend."

The now freed Bane led the group of teenage heroes towards the edge off a cliff. Down, they had perfect sight of the factory. Robin pulled out his binocular and peered down, watching the Kobra men bringing crates out on the landing spot for helicopters.

"Look at all that product!" he whispered.

"So a buy _is_ going down!" Ben muttered.

"But if they're not selling to the usual suspects then-" Robin continued.

"We need to identify that buyer," Aqualad finished the sentence.

"Just what I was thinking!" Kid agreed.

"HA! Yeah," Robin snorted.  
" _You're_ the thinker."

"Sarcasm? Dude. A real leader would focus on getting answers."

Ben rolled his eyes at his teammates' childish behavior and turned towards Bane, who lifted a large rock that was placed in front of an old mine entrance. Slowly, he walked over to where the villain was standing and was followed by Miss Martian and Superboy.

"Answers are this way," Bane told them.

The group followed after Bane through the caves until they reached a door leading to the factory. Ben and Robin both stuck their heads out to see if anyone was around. Luckily, there was no one.

"All clear!" Robin told the others before jumping out in the open and disappearing from the Team's sight. Ben and Aqualad sighed almost in unison.

"Has that little fool already been caught?" Bane asked confused.

"No. He just does that a lot," Ben replied chuckling.  
"Dude's like a ninja. I'll go find him."

Before anyone could say anything, he activated the and transformed into Big Chill. Kid Flash grinned at him and put on his goggles.

"I bet I can get the intel before you or Boy Wonder!" he challenged Big Chill before rushing off.

"Wait!" Aqualad called after him, but he was too late. Instead, he turned to the large alien moth.  
"We need to stay together."

"Chill out," Big Chill told him in his chilling voice as he slowly turned invisible.  
"I'll go tell them you said that. Just stay cool will you?"

. . . . .

Big Chill floated over the site, watching while several Kobra cultists were readying boxes filled with Venom for transportation. He noticed they only took the newest boxes and left the old ones where they stood. It confused him, but not to the point where he would further investigate. They were here to find out who the new buyer was.

The sound of a helicopter approaching had him look up and he started flying back to the building and fazed through the wall. He entered the control room, where he had found Robin a few minutes back. He arrived around the same time as Kid Flash, so he decided to stay invisible for a while longer.

"What've you got?" Kid asked Robin.

"Chemical formula's," Robin replied.  
"I'm guessing it involves Venom, but…"

Kid leaned over the screen to look closer. Science was his forte, so he'd know more about it then Boy Wonder.

"This one's Venom," he started, pointing at one of the formula's before looking at the other.  
"And that one's… wow! The Blockbuster formula from Cadmus! Mixed correctly, the new Kobra juice is three times stronger than Venom, and permanent. But how did Kobra get access to project Blockbuster?"

"Let's ask the buyer himself," Ben told them, transforming back into himself as he approached them.  
"A helicopter is about to land. So if you guys are done playing science geek, maybe we can go bust their asses."

The three of them rushed out of the room, only to find the other members of their team already engaged in battle with several Kobra members, a monster slightly reminiscent of Blockbuster, and Sportsmaster.

Ben quickly activated his watch again and jumped into the fight as green light enveloped him.

"RATH!" he yelled as he turned into the aggressive alien and jumped at the Blockbuster double.  
"Listen here, big guy that's probably a Venom, Blockbuster hybrid! I will beat you to a pulp and wear your skin as a prom dress!"

The beast roared angry and tried to swipe at Rath, who jumped to the side before jumping on top of the beast and digging his claws in its shoulders.

"YOU WANT A PIECE OF ME? HUH YOU UGLY MONSTER! YOU WANT A PIECE OF _ME_?!"

The beast grabbed Rath by the back of his neck and threw him off, slamming him into the floor harshly. Rath grunted and tried to get back up, but a large fist connected with his face, knocking him down again. Just as it was about to hit Rath a second time, Superboy got in the way and stopped him by taking the hit himself. The clone went flying and Rath jumped up with a growl.

"NO ONE HARMS RATH'S FRIENDS!" he yelled before charging again.

 _'_ _Everyone online?'_ Miss Martian's voice suddenly sounded through his head.

Rath widened his eyes in shock, not fully able to understand what was going on and he looked around frantically for the sudden source, which distracted him long enough for the beast to hit him again.

 _'_ _Yeah,'_ Superboy sighed.

 _'_ _You know it beautiful!'_

"ARRGH! Don't distract Rath when he's fighting!" Rath roared annoyed.

He channeled this extra anger – because Rath was always angry – into fighting back, and he got several good hits in.

 _'_ _Alright, we need to regroup,'_ Aqualad spoke up through the mental link.

 _'_ _Busy now!'_ Robin replied.

 _'_ _STOP CONFUSING RATH!'_ Rath screamed internally right before he received another blow to the stomach.

He roared again and put his claws into the beast's face, making it growl in pain and stumble back.

 _'_ _Robin, now!'_ Aqualad commanded.  
 _'Kid. Clear a path.'_

Rath growled one last time at the beast before hitting the Omnitrix logo on his chest and transforming back to Ben, who then rushed to meet the others. They all quickly made their way back into the tunnel they came from.

 _'_ _Superboy! The support beams!'_ Aqualad commanded.

Superboy, running in the back of the group, did as told and smashed his fist into the wooden beams supporting the ceiling of the tunnel. The whole thing collapsed behind them, and only once the group knew they were safe, did they stop running. Robin looked at the rubble and sighed.

"How could my first mission as a leader go so wrong?" he asked.

"You do have the most experience," Aqualad agreed.  
"But maybe that's what has you left you so unprepared. Fighting along Batman, your roles were defined. But this Team is new. A leader must be clear, explicit, and can't expect others to play part in an unknown plan."

"Technically Ben is more experienced, and he didn't just run off," Kid pointed out.

Ben immediately threw his hands up when the attention of everyone on the Team landed on him.

"Hey! Keep me out of this. I've played the Leader thing before once, and that didn't work out at all. so yeah, not trying that again."

"Ah. Who are we kidding… Kaldur should lead us. He's the only one who can," Robin sighed.

"Please! I can run circles around-" Kid Flash started objecting.

"I'm agreeing with Robin on this one Wally," Ben said grinning.

"Hello Megan! It's so obvious!" Miss Martian exclaimed smiling.

"Could'a told ya," Superboy said.

Kid smiled now too.

"Okay!" he agreed.

"Alright," Aqualad said, looking at everyone.  
"Our first priority as assuring that shipment doesn't leave the island."

Robin grinned and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Funny! I had the same thought!"

. . . . .

"Sportsmaster is the supplier/buyer but it still doesn't track!" Robin started, looking at his wrist computer while they ran to the exit of the tunnel.  
"He doesn't have the juice to acquire the Blockbuster formula, nor to have Kobra do his dirty work."

"And neither have the chops to combine Blockbuster with Venom," Kid Flash added.  
"That requires some major nerdage."

"Like nerd-level Azmuth, or close," Ben agreed.

"I believe the expression is 'Tip of the Iceberg'," Aqualad mused.

Finally, the end drew near, but before they could exit, Ban blocked their way, holding some kind of detonator.

"Halt, Niños," the villain spoke.  
"I'm feeling… Explosive."

Ben almost snorted at the cheesy line while looking upwards. Several armed explosives were attached to the ceiling over their heads. He still couldn't help but smirk. Thanks to Superboy, they all already knew Bane was planning on betraying them, and even if they hadn't, they would get out of this situation one way or another. Still, Aqualad played clueless.

"You betrayed us? Why?" he asked shocked.

 _'_ _Kid, you need a head start,'_ their leader's voice rang through their heads and Ben could see Kid already getting in position.

"I want my factory back, so I forced you in a situation where you would take down my enemies or die trying," Ban replied, unknowing that the Team already had a plan to escape death.  
"If the last one happened, the Justice League would sure come to avenge their sidekicks and Santa Prisca would be mine once more. But if I blow up the tunnel with you inside, it would have the same effect."

Grinning, the masked villain pressed down on a button that was no longer in his position. Ben couldn't help but snort in amusement at the expression of shock the man wore.

"With what? This trigger thingy?" Kid asked teasingly where he casually leaned against a tree behind Bane.

Bane turned around and shouted in anger as he attacked Kid, but before he could make a move, he was telepathically lifted in the air by Miss Martian while she and the rest of the Team walked out of the tunnel. Superboy grinned widely and cracked his knuckles.

"Finally," he said grinning.  
"Drop him."

. . . . .

"The helicopter is operational, Exotic One," one of the cult members spoke.

Sportsmaster nodded and turned away from Kobra and Shimmer with his briefcase full of the new Kobra Venom samples, but a sudden attack, too fast for the eye to see undermined several Kobra minions, throwing them off their feet. Kid Flash and XLR8 stopped to give each other a high five, and immediately, the cult members still on their feet started shooting at them.

"Take the shipment!" Kobra screamed at his followers.

Ben turned back to himself and turned towards Mammoth with a smirk.

"Go again?" he asked teasingly.

Mammoth growled angrily and attacked, but was stopped by a strong pulse of water appearing seemingly out of nowhere. Ben chuckled and glanced over to Aqualad, who was sending the water and grinned.

"Sorry, not the plan."

Ben looked around himself and noticed that everyone had taken to their given tasks. He would mostly be support, as he could easily adapt to any issue thanks to his watch. Kid was taking out hordes of Kobra cultists with ease, so he didn't need any help, and Superboy seemed to be a good match for Sportsmaster. Ben wasn't even going to wonder about Megan and instead decided that Robin might have the most use of his help, even if the Boy Wonder wouldn't admit it as easily.

The youngest member of the Team had already taken down Shimmer and was now blocking Kobra's path. Ben quickly ran over, but chose not to intervene yet and instead listened to their conversation.

"I know you hate getting your hands dirty," Robin taunted with a smirk.

"True, but even a God must stoop to conquer," Kobra replied, taking off his robes and showing a very toned upper body.  
"What's the matter boy? You look disconcerted."

Ben rolled his eyes and pressed the dial of his Omnitrix. The familiar flash of green enveloped him and out of it appeared a small white figure with a large square head.

"Echo-Echo!" it yelled in a metallic voice.

Just as Kobra slammed Robin to the ground when the young teen failed his attack, Echo-Echo duplicated himself several times started surrounding the Kobra Cult leader. Robin smirked and got out of the way quickly, pressing his hands over his ears just as the Echo-Echo's all took a deep breath. All Echo-Echo's released their voice at the same time, and the loud scream resounded through the entire battle field.

Near the helicopter, Superboy winced in pain at the loud screech and didn't see the hit coming. It didn't do much to the Kryptonian clone, but just as he got back up, Megan was thrown into him and Sportsmaster took off with his helicopter full of Kobra Venom.

Ben had turned back to himself with a bright green flash and grinned down on the unconscious cult leader as Robin knelt down and quickly cuffed the man and his right hand Shimmer. Both looked up as the helicopter blew up and smiled. Their teammates seemed to have done their job perfectly too.

They walked back to Aqualad and the others and Ben couldn't help but be impressed as he saw the unconscious form of Mammoth lying on the ground. When he looked around some more, he gave a soft laugh. The entire factory was in ruins and most part of the forest around them had caught fire along with the building. Robin grinned too and put a hand on Aqualad's shoulder.

"We picked the right guy to lead," he admitted grinning.  
"Automatically making you the right guy to explain this mess to Batman."

The 13 year-old turned away laughing and Ben chuckled too.

. . . . .

"I'm home!" Ben called as he walked into the house.

"Finally!" he heard Azmuth call back from the basement.

With a sigh, Ben dragged his tired body down to join the old alien. He had hoped to crawl into bed, but it seemed his 'teacher' had different plans…

"Whatever it is, can't it wait?" Ben complained as he walked into the room.  
"I just got back from saving the world… again. At least I can get one night off, right?"

"That was hardly saving the world," Azmuth deadpanned.  
"Now get over here and help me with this."

Ben walked closer and scowled. The monitors were focused on the strange anomaly he'd seen in space two days ago. The wormhole back to his own universe.

"What's this about?" he asked curiously.  
"I was there… I saw…"

"Your friends and family, I know," Azmuth sighed.  
"But I'm not worried about what you saw, but what saw _you_."

Ben's eyes widened and he looked back at Azmuth.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"I can't be sure yet, but there is a possibility that if you could glance in the past, the past could glance back… and come over here."


	7. Set Up

**Another original chapter!**

 **…** **I bet you all thought I forgot about this story, didn't you?**

* * *

Mount Justice, July 30, 10:30 EDT

"C'mere, Ship!" Ben called.  
"Time to get you some practice boy!"

The small alien whined and jumped up in Megan's arms, making the Martian girl laugh and hug it tight.

"I don't think he wants to," she chuckled.

"Well too bad for him," Ben replied, with an amused roll of his eyes.

He walked over to Miss Martian and reached out to take Ship over from her. Just as he came within arm's length of the alien girl, his watch lit up and a yellow beam passed over her. The Martian tensed in surprise, but stood stock still until the beam had passed.

 _"_ _New DNA sample required,"_ the mechanical voice of the Omnimatrix spoke.

Before anyway could say anything, Superboy was next to Ben and threw the brunette against a wall.

"What the hell did that thing just do?" he asked angrily.

Ben groaned and got up again, rubbing the back of his head as he glared at Superman's clone.

"That was my horrible Beam of Doom," he replied sarcastically.  
"Beware! Miss M will now turn into my evil minion and together we will take over Earth. What do you think it did? It scanned her DNA, didn't you hear it saying anything, mister super-hearing?!"

Superboy growled and balled his fists, ready to pound into Ben. The brunette tensed immediately and reached with his right hand to the Omnitrix, ready to activate it if the other teen were to attack.

"Calm down, both of you!" Aqualad ordered loudly.  
"It is of no use to fight between ourselves."

"Yeah, fine," Ben muttered, relaxing again without taking his eyes away from Superboy.

Superboy gave a huff of annoyance and turned away. He stomped out of the room without saying another word. The rest of the group all watched him go with frowns but none tried to stop him.

"Ship?" the little alien Mechamorph asked curiously.

"Nah, it's fine," Ben replied with a shrug.

"What did your watch do exactly anyway ?" Kid Flash asked.

"I recall it scanned my DNA that first day as well," Aqualad remembered.  
"What does it mean when it does that?"

"It means I can change into your species," Ben replied shrugging.  
"Or should be able to at least. Azmuth still hasn't given me the Master Control."

"So… you can now become an Atlantean and a Martian?" Robin asked.

"They're added into the database, but I can't access them yet," Ben told him.  
"I don't know exactly _how_ it works, but sometimes, another alien gets unlocked. When I unlock the Atlantean or the Martian, I'll be able to transform into them, but just not yet."

"Cool!" Kid Flash cheered.

"Ship! Ship!"

"Yeah, buddy, not as cool as Upgrade, I know," Ben chuckled, patting Ship on the head.

Miss Martian blinked at Ben and squealed.

"You can really understand him?" she asked.  
"Can you teach me? I want to talk to him too! He's so cute!"

"It took me years to learn it," Ben muttered.  
"My ex could understand him basically on instinct though."

Both Ben and Ship sighed sadly, and Robin and Kid looked away guilty. Aqualad frowned at this, but he supposed that whatever was going on there, it was something personal. It wasn't his place to interfere in the personal business of his teammates anyway.

"How about we get some training in?" Robin suggested smiling.

"Good idea!" Ben agreed with a grin.  
"You mind if I use Ship instead of the Omnitrix?"

"Huh? What can he do that your alien watch can't?" Kid Flash asked curiously.

"You'll see," was the cryptic reply.

Ben and Robin walked into the fighting ring together with Ship following after them. As they faced each other, Robin gave a cocky grin and held his hand out, crooking his fingers upwards in a dare towards Ben to attack. Ben grinned and looked over to Ship.

"Ship!" he called grinning.  
"Battle Mode!"

The group watched in shock as Ship jumped up and wrapped his expanding body around the brunette teenage hero. The alien pet quickly morphed into a robot suit with a green visor through which Ben grinned widely at Robin.

"Ready?" he asked.

"Show me what you got, alien boy!" Boy Wonder chuckled.

The two boys charged each other, both grinning in excitement. They both wanted to find out just how good the other was, as they were still a very new team. Even though Ben had been living in their universe as a hero for the past 4 years, his abilities were still mostly shrouded in mystery. After all, he barely ever used any aliens besides 10, which had been the reason to his hero name.

Ben swung, but Robin ducked just in time and the fist simply went over his head. The Boy Wonder tried to swipe Ben's legs from under him, but the brunette barely even staggered. That robot suit really was tough.

"Ship!" the suit called out and stuck out his tongue at Robin.

"That's just freaky," Kid Flash commented to Aqualad and Miss Martian.

Ben kicked towards Robin, ignoring his audience, but Robin jumped up this time and landed on his shoulder. As he pushed off and landed behind Ben, the brunette actually did stagger, but he regained his balance in time to turn around and catch Robin's foot when he tried for a roundhouse kick. He swung the younger teen hero away and approached.

"Giving in?" he asked cockily.

"Not likely," Robin snorted.

He grabbed a smoke bomb from his belt and threw it at Ben. His vision was obscured by the smoke, giving Robin the perfect opportunity to disappear from his sight. Ben growled in annoyance and looked around himself in search of his opponent, only to be hit in the back.

Ben jumped to the side and turned to face Robin, only to find the Boy Wonder long gone again. A throwing star imbedded itself into Ben's shoulder. Though he couldn't feel the sting of it himself thanks to the suit, Ship did and he could feel his pet's anger boiling at the attack. Ship was done playing nice and took over control.

They were prepared for Robin's next surprise attack and were able to fight him off with their teamwork. Robin was thrown to the floor with the force of the hit. When he wanted to get up again, he found a few dozen red dots aimed at his face and chest and he tensed.

"… What?" he asked shocked.

He looked up at Ben, finding he was aiming several very deadly looking weaponry protruding from the suit at him. His eyes widened and for a moment, he wondered if the other would actually kill him.

"You pissed off Ship, sorry," Ben chuckled apologetically.  
"This is kind of a shared control kind of thing, so… but I won't let him do anything bad. If he really wants to shoot, we'll only use the non-lethal ones."

"I feel a lot better, thanks," Robin sneered tensely.  
"But it would be a lot better if you stopped pointing those at me."

"Does that mean you admit defeat?" Ben asked teasingly.

Robin sighed deeply and nodded his head reluctantly. Ben grinned in victory and relaxed. Ship transformed back into himself and jumped to the side, straight in to Black Canary's arms. Ben and Robin walked up to each other and shook hands, both grinning widely.

"Nice fight!" Robin complimented.

"Absolutely! I wouldn't have beat you in a fair fight," Ben agreed.

"You know it at least," the Boy Wonder teased before walking up to Black Canary and Batman.

"Do you got a mission for us?" Aqualad asked the dark knight hopefully.

"Yes," Batman agreed.  
"But since it will be your first mission as a team, Black Canary will come with you to supervise.."

"A babysit? C'mon! We can do it on our own!" Kid complained.

"Like how you can follow orders?" Batman asked, glaring at the redhead.

Kid Flash shrunk back a bit as he recalled the earlier mission and smiled sheepishly.

"What kind of mission?" Miss Martian asked curiously.

"Recon," Batman replied.  
"About an hour ago, the Central Bank of Coast City was not just robbed, but completely emptied."

Ben's eyes widened and he took a step forward. Most eyes were drawn to him almost immediately.

"What happened?" the brunette asked quickly.  
"I only stopped a robbery two days ago!"

"This time, something else was involved," Batman said seriously.

He pressed a button on the large computer and brought up a picture of a large, empty hall. For a moment, the team was confused to what it meant, but then Ben recognized the room.

"That's the lobby of the Bank!" he announced shocked.  
"What the hell happened to it? Where are the desks?"

"Stolen," Black Canary told them.  
"Along with all the employees and clients."

"Someone robbed the bank and not only stole the money, but also the furniture and the people in it?" Kid Flash asked incredulously.  
"Who does something like that?!"

"That's what you are about to find out," Batman told them.  
"If you can, take the criminals into custody, but if Black Canary thinks you are in over your heads, she will call for back-up."

The stern hero looked at them with his famous Bat-glare and crossed his arms over his chest.

"You _will_ listen to her," he stressed.

. . . . .

Coast City, 7:15 PDT

Ship touched down 45 minutes after leaving Mount Justice at the parking lot of the Central Bank of Coast City. Several police cars were already at the scene and so were many onlookers and reporters.

The team of young heroes and their supervisor exited the ship before the Galvanic Mechamorph transformed back into its original form, earning gasps of shock from the crowd before it jumped in Miss Martian's arms to whom he had grown fond of in the short time since they met.

"Black Canary," the police sheriff greeted calmly.  
"And Ben 10. Sorry to see your hard work has gone to waste."

The brunette gave a small smile and a wave.

"No problem, Steve," he replied shrugging.  
"Let's just catch whoever did this and call it a day already. I barely had any sleep last night."

The officer gave a small grin and led the group of young heroes and their watcher inside without acknowledging any of the other teenagers. Kid Flash of course noticed it first and frowned as he started walking next to Ben and Robin.

"And what are we? Invisible?" he muttered upset.

"My town, remember?" Ben chuckled.  
"I bet if we were sent on a mission in Gotham they'd turn to Robin first."

"Yeah, well, that doesn't give them a reason to ignore us," Kid pointed out sulkily.

"We are here to do our job, not to be recognized," Aqualad chided.

"Yeah, yeah," Kid Flash waved him off with a roll of his eyes.

Aqualad frowned a bit, but didn't comment while Ben, Robin and Miss Martian all chuckled. Superboy was extremely quiet from his spot in the back of the group. In fact, he seemed to be brooding ever since his spat with Ben.

"Let's just finish the mission and then we can argue about who's more popular," Robin snickered.

"I bet I'll win!" Ben laughed teasingly.

"Yeah? Wouldn't be so sure Alien Boy!" Kid laughed.

Their banter fell quiet as they stared at the empty space inside the bank. Nothing had been left behind, as if someone just decided to erase the whole thing and only let the outer walls of the building behind. Ben frowned and looked around himself while Robin pulled out some Bat tech and started scanning the place.

"Nothing special on the radars," the Boy Wonder announced.

"Alright, so someone walked in here and just took the money, the furniture, the freaking _lights_ and the people without being seen?" Kid questioned.

"Seems like it. Hey, Miss M! You sense anything?"

The green skinned girl closed her eyes in concentration and rubbed her temples. After a few moments, she opened her eyes again and looked at the others.

"It's weak, but I do feel something in the middle of the room…" she told them a bit uncertain.

Ben nodded in thanks and walked over, planning to just look around and see if he could find something unusual. When he walked into the exact middle of the room, however, his Omnitrix started making noise. Startled, Ben lifted the alien watch to his face.

 _"_ _Wormhole residue detected,"_ it spoke in its metallic voice.

The others all walked over as well, all very curious. Even Black Canary, who had been talking with the police officer in the back walked over. Ben blinked a bit in confusion.

"Alright, uh, Omnitrix, a full scan of the area please," he told the watch.

A pale green light flashed over the entire room before returning back into the Omnitrix.

 _"_ _13 lifeforms detected,"_ the watch said.

Kid quickly turned around and counted how many people were in the room. Once he was done, he frowned a bit before looking over at Ship. The redhead looked back at his friends with a grin and a nod, meaning there were indeed 13 living beings in the room.

"Anything else?" Ben pressed.

 _"_ _Use of Galvan technology detected,"_ it said this time.

Ben scowled and looked over to the others. Kid Flash and Robin glanced at each other, both well aware that it should be impossible for any technology of another universe to leak into theirs without help. Ben used Galvan technology, and they knew he lived with a Galvan, but they also knew there was no way Ben's mentor could have anything to do with this.

"Ok," Kid Flash spoke up slightly annoyed.  
"No matter how interesting it is to see your alien watch in action, but maybe we could get some useful information, like, I don't know, who did all this?"

Ben smirked and activated the Omnitrix. With one bright smirk in the young speedster's direction, he slammed the dial and transformed in a bright green light. In his place now stood a large, bulky robot made of copper. His belly was made of green glass with the Omnitrix symbol on it, showing the cogwheels inside and on top of his head was a big winding key.

"Clockwork!"

"Wow," was all Kid said at the sight of the large alien.

"And what does this one do? Read the time?" Superboy asked sarcastically.

"Manipulate time, to be exact," Clockwork replied.

He raised his hands out in front of him and the winding key on his head started spinning, inside a soft, green light, they could see people standing in the Bank, everything was as it was supposed to be, until some of them suddenly looked up, seemingly panicked, towards the front door.

That was where Ben aimed his time beam next. To everyone's shock, they could see the Joker and Harley Quinn walking into the room, both grinning and holding large guns. They started shouting things at the people who all reacted by throwing their hands up in the air. When one person tried to go for the alarm, Harley shot them with the big gun, and the man disappeared in a bright flash. Both she and Joker seemed to be in complete shock for all of five seconds before they started grinning and shooting around randomly. Everything they hit disappeared in that same flash, until there was nothing, or no one, left. Ben lowered his arms and returned back to his human form.

"Well, that explains something," he muttered.  
"Big question now is: who gave the Joker Galvan Tech?"

"Ben 10! Batman wants you back at base ASAP," Black Canary called out.  
"He wants to talk to you about the developments of this mission. The rest of the Team will stay here with me to continue working on it. Contact me when you can join us again."

Ben sighed and nodded as he activated the Omnitrix.

"If I can join again," he muttered bitterly before turning into Jetray.

. . . . .

Mount Justice, 12:00 EDT

Batman hadn't said a word yet since Ben was forced to return to base. He had just told Ben to sit down and then left him in a room that looked an awful lot like a police interrogation room. Ben guessed Batman, or some other Leaguers were hidden behind the dark glass, observing the possible traitor. Ben wasn't an idiot, he knew that's what he was there for. They thought he had given the Joker Galvan Tech.

"I didn't do it!" he called out annoyed.

No answer came. Ben huffed annoyed and crossed his arms, pouting sulkily at the mirror glass as he continued waiting. This was why he disliked Batman: the stupid mind games he always played.

"C'mon you guys! You can't actually believe that I had anything to do with this, right?" he tried again.  
"I mean, I know how it looks, I swear I do! But you know me better than that, right? I'd never betray the team! Ask anyone. Robin, Kid. You can even read my mind if you really need to!"

Again, no answer came at all, and Ben groaned in frustration. He wasn't the kind of guy that could just sit still like this and wait until everything was cleared. He needed to be out there and catch whoever _was_ behind all this dammit!

Eventually, the door slid open and Batman entered, followed by Superman. Ben scowled at the grave expressions both of the Leaguers were wearing, and he knew he wasn't in the clear yet.

"You can go," Batman started.

"Great!" Ben exclaimed, jumping up from his seat.

"-But, we'll put you on suspension from any hero business, and you'll stay with the Kents until we know we can trust you."

"Oh, come on!" Ben cried out annoyed.

"It won't be so bad," Superman told him smiling.  
"Come on, we'll stop by your home to pick up e few things and then I'll introduce you to my parents."

"Can't wait," Ben muttered bitterly.

"Don't worry so much, Ben. My parents are great people."

. . . . .

Coast City, 9:05 PDT

"I'll wait out here. Be back quickly," Superman told him.

Ben nodded reluctantly and walked into the house. Just one glance around told him that he was once again all on his own, making him sigh. He loved his grandmother dearly, but she wasn't fit to raise anyone. She loved her freedom too much, and she always found something more interesting to do than being with Ben, especially this last year. Ben could barely even remember when the last time was he'd talked to her.

Azmuth was gone more and more lately too, traveling along with Paradox, or spending time on Oa, helping out the Green Lantern Corps with his inventions. Sure, he saved the world, and other than Verdona, he still had time for Ben, but it would be nice if he was around a bit more too. At least Ben could still go to Hall when loneliness hit him too hard… if he wasn't on a mission off planet at least.

"This sucks," Ben muttered as he walked into his room.

"I find it rather amusing, really," a much too familiar voice replied.

Ben's eyes widened, and he lifted his Omnitrix arm, ready to activate as he watched Albedo warily. How the hell did he get here?! Did he still remember Ben?

"Don't look so confused, Ben. I can feel my own brain cells dying just looking at you," Albedo sneered.  
"You know the answers to your own questions already, don't you? Just _think_. I know even you can do that much."

Ben scowled in confusion, but then his eyes widened in realization.

"The Vortex," he whispered wide-eyed.

Albedo's smirk widened into a large, predatory grin and he sat up on Ben's bed, where he had been casually lying until now.

"Some people here must hate you so, so much if they were willing to rip through reality and bring me over," the albino said.  
"With all my memories intact, and some _very_ nice accessories."

Ben felt like someone just kicked him in the stomach when he saw the Ultimatrix sitting on Albedo's wrist. Albedo laughed when he saw the look of shock and horror on the brunette's face and he stood up, approaching Ben slowly.

"They got me here when I was at my peak, but with every single memory up to the point the world was destroyed," Albedo told him, stopping right in front of him.  
"I can do the same. I can do more than that. If I want to, I can bring Vilgax back, at the peak of his strength, and wearing the Omnitrix."

His grin stretched even further and he leaned in until his lips were next to Ben's ear.

"I can bring over Kevin Eleven thousand."

That was all Ben needed to jump back into action and he roughly pushed Albedo back.

"Then I'll just have to stop you before you can!" he growled angrily.

"And who are you going to bring for that?" Albedo laughed.  
"Your hero friends? How will they feel about your 'evil twin'? How are you going to explain where I came from when the only ones they know of that can even travel between the universes is _your family._ "

Ben wanted to open his mouth to reply, but Albedo held up his hand to stop him.

"If you want to say anything about the Martian and his mind reading, don't bother," he said in a bored tone.  
"I have a strong mind, I could make him see anything I wanted him to. Like how you are a traitor and tried to use me to win their trust."

"What do you want from me, Albedo," Ben asked softly, glaring at the albino hatefully.

Albedo just laughed and walked towards the window.

"You'll hear it when it's time," Albedo told him.  
"Be ready, because I won't give you the chance to fight me."

. . . . .

"What took so long?" Superman asked Ben as he walked back out of the house, a bag slung over his shoulder.

"Couldn't find my I-pod," Ben muttered.

"Alright," Superman replied smiling.  
"Ready when you are."

Ben turned the dials on his watch and pressed down, turning into Jetray.

"Let's go."

* * *

 **A bit of an abrupt ending maybe, but what happens further isn't important for the plot so I'll just touch up on it in the next chapter before we move forward again.**

 **Also, my sincerest apologies for not having updated sooner but I might be finally getting the hang of the fandoms again. Still a Potterhead first and foremost.**


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